Context

Question 1

The setting of Italy/Venice in Jacobean drama

Answer 1

Italy was frequently used by Jacobean dramatists who wished to explore themes related to appearance and reality, corruption and sexual decadence.
Venice also became a symbol of hedonistic excess in the early modern English imagination.

Question 2

Hecatommithi by Cinthio

Answer 2

• collection of tales by Italian writer Cinthio
• Shakespeare stuck closely to the original story, but made some rather significant changes
• these included compressing the timescale of events to heighten emotional impact
• introducing the war between the Turks and the Venetians
• the love of the Ensign in Cinthio’s tale seems to be replaced with the professional jealousy of Iago
• The Ensign’s wife was fully aware of her husband’s villainy but was too scared to speak out, unlike Emilia who wasn’t aware but spoke up when she realised.

Question 3

The link between Cinthio’s story and Shakespeare’s play

Answer 3

Neither a disparity in age (Othello old and Desdemona young) nor Othello’s unfamiliarity with Venice is in the story on which Shakespeare based his play (in that story, for example, the Moor is a longtime resident). This suggests that the playwright was deliberately accentuating this marriage as a union of opposites.

Question 4

James I

Answer 4

It is possible that Shakespeare may have been influenced by the interests of James I when he wrote Othello. James was fascinated by Turkish history and wrote a poem about the famous sea battle that took place at Lepanto in 1571. A coalition of of Christian forces, including the Republic of Venice, defeated the main Turkish fleet.

When Shakespeare wrote Othello, James was the new patron of Shakespeare’s acting company, the King’s Men.

Question 5

Elizabethan Madonna-Whore dichotomy

Answer 5

women were only seen either as saintly Madonnas or debased prostitutes.

Question 6

Ideas that obsessed Jacobean dramatists (brief)

Answer 6

• the nature of good and evil
• the difference between appearance and reality
• corrupt authority figures

Question 7

Race in Elizabethan England

Answer 7

• doctors and philosophers seemed to conclude that melanated skin was either because an individual was from a hot place (linked to ideas of sexual promiscuity) or as a mark of sin

Question 8

only other Black character in a Shakespeare play

Answer 8

Aaron from ‘Titus Andronicus’

Question 9

social class in the play in general

Answer 9

a distinct lack of working-class characters, arguably besides Bianca, Emilia and Iago, for audiences to identify with. This may cause us to see Iago in a more sympathetic manner (A.C. Bradley)

Question 10

The Myth of Venice

Answer 10

• viewed as famously open and egalitarian society due to its trade connections
• unique waterways and grand architecture contributed to its status as a mythical location
• luxurious, exotic and progressive
• simultaneously, though, a place viewed as dangerous and undignified by Protestant Elizabethans due to it being a Catholic region

Question 11

Madness

Answer 11

• viewed as a physical illness/disease
• contagious
• could be cured by physical treatment?

Question 12

The portrayal of Iago and Machiavelli

Answer 12

demonstrates some of the Elizabethans’ misunderstandings of the works of Machiavelli who was a Floretine himself.
Today, Machiavelli is a respected political theorist, but many Elizabethans saw his work as immoral, thus the creation of stage Machiavels as devious began to come about.

Question 13

the Christian Great Chain of Being

Answer 13

animals far below noble men and men, even below women

Question 14

Parker’s film adaptation

Answer 14

Iago has tears in his eyes when saying “I am your own forever” and lies at Othello’s side on the bed when he is stabbed (gay)

Question 15

the importance of outward appearances

Answer 15

during the Renaissance people believed that you could tell whether someone was good or evil based on their outward appearance. e.g. physical defects such as birthmarks could prove you a witch.

because he looks honest, Iago is able to successfully conceal his villainy.

Question 16

confirmation bias

Answer 16

the tendency to search for, interpret, favour and recall information in a way that supports one’s prior beliefs or values. people display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information.

the way in which Othello receives information from Iago may indicate that he suffers from a kind of ‘confirmation bias’ whereby he is predisposed to believing Iago because of his own belief in his inferiority. he chooses to believe Iago over his own wife.

misogynistic beliefs? internalised racism?

can also argue against this because Othello appears confident and witty at the start of the play (“Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them”)

Question 17

honour in Renaissance society

Answer 17

a wife’s chastity was part of her husband’s honour, therefore a woman’s good name was very important in Shakespeare’s society. court records for York c.1600 show that 90% of defamation cases involving female plaintiffs looked into the woman’s sexual reputation.

Question 18

cultural significance of handkerchiefs in the Renaissance

Answer 18

associated with courtly desire. there is a particularly pertinent story where Elizabeth I was watching a tennis game and one of the players wiped his brow with her handkerchief; the other player claimed that this was ‘too saucy’ and they got into a brawl.

could be used to argue against Rymer’s criticism of the handkerchief, with the ‘ado’, ‘stress’ and ‘passion’ caused by it being seen as entirely implausible.

Question 19

Aristotle on tragic heroes

Answer 19

the tragic hero should not be entirely good or evil, and should instead possess a ‘fatal flaw’ that is designed to incite phosbos (fear), pathos (pity) and eleos (sadness) in audiences.

Question 20

the meaning of Desdemona’s name

Answer 20

derived from the Greek word “dysdaimon”, meaning “ill-fated” or “ill-starred”.

Question 21

Suicide

Answer 21

although it is a sin in Christianity, the Ancient Greeks and Romans often saw suicide as patriotic or noble because it was a way of avoiding disgrace and preserving one’s honour. In many Greek/ Roman tragedies the protagonists commit suicide for other reasons as well: to avoid further suffering, end grief or sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Question 22

Why did Venice appear so fascinating to Jacobean playwrights and audiences with regard to it’s liberal treatment of sexual relations?

Answer 22

prostitution was regulated by the state and involved thousands of women

Question 23

Marriage

Answer 23

• fathers expected to control their daughters and marry them off for their own social/ financial advantage.
• it was a means by which men controlled and passed on their property, and women were seen as possessions.
• Brabantio is more tolerant than many Renaissance aristocrats would have been at the time, as he says he was willing to allow Desdemona some choice in who she married.