context

Question 1

traditional definitions of tragedy based on Aristotles treatise ‘the poetics’ that relate to Othello.

Answer 1

• the action focuses on a single character (protagonist) who enjoys a high reputation and whose fall is due to an error, not deliberate wrongdoing or a fatal flaw.
• the language is suitable for the most elevated of literary forms.
• the protagonists excessive human pride, self-belief or self-importance (hubris) leads to an error of judgement (hamartia) which brings about their downfall.
• there is a reversal when the events of the play turn in an unexpected direction (perepetia) -> finds out Iago is lying.
• there is a moment of recognition (anagnorisis) when the protagonist recognises his error of judgement. ->his final speech.
• there is a calamitous outcome (the catastrophe)- a turning upside down of everything.

Question 2

Venice

Answer 2

• during the elizabethan times, when the play was written, Venice was a successful commercial centre (NOTE. written between 1601-1604 during the last years of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign but performed during the Jacobean period- so context is elizabethan- audience is Jacobean).
• Italians had a reputation for being cunning and had a love of plots and deceptions - Machiavelli was Italian.
• Venetian women had a reputation for being sophisticated and sexually active.
• in the 16th century, Venice had been involved in a long war with the turks.

Question 3

Machiavellian villain and Iago.

Answer 3

• to be a Machiavellian villain they must employ ‘cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct’.
• the word comes from the Italian renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolo Machiavelli.
• during his exile, he wrote the prince (il princeipe) in 1513.
• the book gained notoriety due to claims that it teaches ‘evil recommendations to tyrants to help them maintain their power’.

Question 4

Machiavellian and Iago (the psychology)

Answer 4

• in modern psychology, machiavellianism is one of the dark train personalities, characterised by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for mortality, and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.
• machiavellianism is also a term that some social, forensic and personality psychologists use to describe a persons tendency to be unemotional, and therefore able to detach themselves from conventional morality and hence to deceive and manipulate others.

Question 5

cyprus

Answer 5

• when the story of Othello (around 1570) was set, the turks were just beginning to attack Cyprus, which had belonged to Venice for over a century.
• by the time the play was published (between 1602 and 1604), Cyprus had been in Turkish hands for over 30 years.

Question 6

the race issue

Answer 6

• society was different during elizabethan times and while non-europeans might have been seen in London, a marriage between a black man and a white woman would have been unheard of, except in fiction.
• a black character having a leading role in a play would also have been very rare- the devil was thought to be black during this period and so a black character would have been more likely to be a villain than the lead.
• Othello is described negatively: ‘thick lips’, ‘black ram’, ‘blacker than the devil’.

Question 7

Anglo- spanish relations

Answer 7

• the name Iago is the Spanish equivalent of the name Jacob or James.
• an elizabethan audience would have been suspicious of a Spanish name because relations between the two countries were strained.
• England was a christian country, and Spain was a catholic country. English people had a fear of catholic Spain and therefore, would have been suspicious of Iago.

Question 8

‘let us admit it there is hardly one of us who is not more afraid of the disgrace which comes to him from his wife’s immorality than from his own.’
- Montaigne.

Answer 8

• iagos motive was his wife’s immorality.
• Othello believing Iago.

Question 9

‘Southern men are more hot, lascivious and jealous.’
- Burton.

Answer 9

• ‘southern’-> African.
• Othello problems.

Question 10

‘in the nature of man, we find three principle causes of quarrel. first, competition; secondly, diffidence (ie. suspicion, mistrust); thirdly, glory. the first maketh man invade for gain; the second for safety; and the third for reputation.’
- Thomas Hobbes.

Answer 10

• Iago causing problems- impacts everyone.