Othello Study Guide Essay
Othello study guide
Introduction
Preparing to study
Tragedy, comedy and history
Different kinds of exam question
Context questions
How to answer context questions
A map of the play
The essay question
Possible essay subjects
Characters and relationships
Theatrical questions
The structure of the play in acts
Key scenes analysed
The language of the play
Past essay questions
Themes of the play
Preparing to study
This guide is written to support your study of Othello. The guide indicates the terms in which examiners will expect you to understand the play. It should be used in conjunction with study of Othello in performance, as far as possible, and of the text in one or more editions designed for study at your level.
What other resources should you use? This depends on your own aptitude and readiness for study. But any serious Advanced level student should expect to use at least …show more content…
As Othello will originally have been played by a white actor, such detail must be given verbally, of course. Iago has not exhibited especial interest in Othello's race in his speech to Roderigo (which seems to reflect his own concerns) but is well aware of Brabantio's attitude to Othello's colour, and makes much of the Moor's physical size and Desdemona's vulnerability, as he speaks of the "old black ram...tupping" Brabantio's "white ewe".
It seems that Iago is crude here as a matter of policy. As we shall find, Iago has no consistent voice; in every situation he adopts the tone and manner which suit his purpose. He switches readily from blank verse to prose; the latter gives the impression to others of the frankness of "honest" Iago, but he uses this typically when he is deceiving people.
Act I, scene iii
Structure
This scene readily divides into four
Introduction
Preparing to study
Tragedy, comedy and history
Different kinds of exam question
Context questions
How to answer context questions
A map of the play
The essay question
Possible essay subjects
Characters and relationships
Theatrical questions
The structure of the play in acts
Key scenes analysed
The language of the play
Past essay questions
Themes of the play
Preparing to study
This guide is written to support your study of Othello. The guide indicates the terms in which examiners will expect you to understand the play. It should be used in conjunction with study of Othello in performance, as far as possible, and of the text in one or more editions designed for study at your level.
What other resources should you use? This depends on your own aptitude and readiness for study. But any serious Advanced level student should expect to use at least …show more content…
As Othello will originally have been played by a white actor, such detail must be given verbally, of course. Iago has not exhibited especial interest in Othello's race in his speech to Roderigo (which seems to reflect his own concerns) but is well aware of Brabantio's attitude to Othello's colour, and makes much of the Moor's physical size and Desdemona's vulnerability, as he speaks of the "old black ram...tupping" Brabantio's "white ewe".
It seems that Iago is crude here as a matter of policy. As we shall find, Iago has no consistent voice; in every situation he adopts the tone and manner which suit his purpose. He switches readily from blank verse to prose; the latter gives the impression to others of the frankness of "honest" Iago, but he uses this typically when he is deceiving people.
Act I, scene iii
Structure
This scene readily divides into four