Context

Question 1

Aristotle: Theory of Tragedy

Answer 1

• Mimesis: Tragedy is an imitation of life and action
• Hamartia: Fatal flaw and/or great error in character that results in the hero’s fall from happiness to misery
• Catharsis: Emotional release derived from the workings of the plot, primarily through the evil deed carried out within familial characters suggested by Aristotle to arouse pity, fear, and horror
• Tragic hero: Morally ambiguous, must embody a sense of innate nobility and virtue
• Plot: Main element of Aristotelian tragedy, where a climax is reached, triggering the peripeteia towards the denouement/anagnorisis
• 3 unities: unity of time (short timeframe for urgency), unity of place (single location), unity of action (focus on main plot for cohesion)

Question 2

Location: Venice

Answer 2

• Symbol of heightened European civilisation, political savvy, and cultural sophistication
• Coryat’s ‘Crudities’, and Contarini’s ‘The Commonwealth and Government of Venice’: Allowed Jacobean / Elizabethan society to view Venice as a refined, cosmopolitan hub - worthy of emulation

Question 3

Renaissance Humanism

Answer 3

• Cultural movement which involved the rise of Greek and Roman classical writing
• Flourishing of the English language as many words and phrases were recorded for the first time through Shakespeare’s texts

Question 4

Gli Hecatommithi

Answer 4

• The Ensign is driven by his unrequited desire for Disdemona, whereas in Othello, Iago is motivated by various ambiguous motives, emphasising his ‘human’ aspects through dramatisation; “motiveless malignancy” (AO5 Bradley)
• Addition of characters and plot focus reduces the sense of simplicity and causality in classical Renaissance literature, exploring humanistic philosophy and psychology

Question 5

Race

Answer 5

• Old Testament: “black and cursed” (Book of Genesis)
• Scot’s ‘The Discovery of Witchcraft’: “a damned soul may and doth take the shape of a black moor”
• Established colour imagery associating black with sin and immorality
• Great Chain of Being: Disruption of the hierarchy was believed to result in chaos and disruption
• Locations

Question 6

Shakespeare Productions

Answer 6

• The elimination of subplots and comedic elements typically used to entertain groundlings adds impact and tension to the main plot, building up for the catastrophe (unity of action)

Question 7

Femininity & Marriage

Answer 7

• Commodification of women in marriage; subordinate to father then to husband
• Shakespeare’s use of hawk imagery to describe women

Question 8

Location: Cyprus

Answer 8

• Moving the plot away from familiar Western locations allow the Elizabethan audience to project xenophobic fears (unity of place); a parallel is drawn between the geographic and domestic shifts, suggesting danger of the “other”
• Contarini’s argument of “perturbation” (political instability) being the most negative element of Venetian governance; political and domestic degradation in Cyprus suggests superiority of Venice and the primitive nature of Cyprus
• Backdrop of the Ottoman-Venetian war creates scene of tension and conflict

Question 9

Location: England

Answer 9

• Elizabethan reign actively pursued international trade into African and Middle Eastern markets, facilitating interracial encounters
• Africanus’ travel log, ‘Description of Africa’ contributed to the persona of the ‘Moorish other’ in the English cultural imagination
• Establishment of the Barbary Company in 1585; access to Moorish mercenaries created a paradoxical anxiety regarding the entrustment of national interest to foreign military officers
• Expansion of European colonialism allowed for imperialist attitudes towards foreign mercenaries (political commodities)