Contexts

Question 1

The Renaissance saw a new confidence in human reason and potential which challenged old convictions, this is seen to have began in Italy in the 14th century. What is the significance of this?

Answer 1

As Othello and Desdemona are moved from Venice, the city of social progression and culture, to Cyprus a place of war and civil disobedience foreshadows the fall of their martial love.

Question 2

Shakespeare’s play examines and questions the beliefs, assumptions and politics upon which Elizabethan society was founded. Although the play concludes in a restoration of order and stability, how does Shakespeare still subvert traditional values?

Answer 2

through the fact that Othello, the tragic hero, is a black man while the heroine is an assertive young woman

Question 3

Arguably Shakespeare gives Iago subversive views in order to discredit them as _______ (opposes official policy)

Answer 3

dissident

Question 4

Why would Shakespeare critique of the ways those in authority behave or question race and nobility have to be muted or oblique?

Answer 4

as direct criticism of the monarch or contemporary English court would not have been tolerated; most reasonably why the play is set in Italy

Question 5

England was increasingly hostile to foreigners both officially and at a popular level; with London having witnessed several major riots against foreign residents and ______.

Answer 5

artisans

Question 6

Which monarch issued edicts demanding the removal of black poeple from English because they were considered as an ‘annoyance’?

Answer 6

Elizabeth 1

Question 7

The central figures of many of Shakespeare’s plays have individuals beset by temptation and the lure of evil. When do we see an example of Othello’s introspection (examination of mental process, self reflect)?

Answer 7

In Act 3 scene 3 when he is alone on stage and begins to doubt his attractions as a husband
“why did I marry”

Question 8

Othello goes on a psychological journey that can be understood as a spiritual progression towards even or hell. When do we see evidence of Othello’s tormented conscience?

Answer 8

both before and after he kills his wife

Question 9

Desdemona remarks on Othello’s inner torment when she says what in Act V Scene 2?

Answer 9

“some bloody passion shakes your very frame”

Question 10

Women expected to be ruled by men, as what demonstrates?

Answer 10

Desdemona’s submission to Othello

Question 11

Intellectually, women were thought to be inferior to men, and incapable of rational thought. What were assertive and argumentative women seen as?

Answer 11

as a threat to the social order and were punished for their behaviour with forms of torture

Question 12

Shakespeare’s wife managed a home and property as well as her family for 20 years while Shakespeare was pursing his career in London. What reflects Shakespeares recognition of strong women?

Answer 12

the way he allows Desdemona and Emilia a number of moments of strength

Question 13

Why is the storm in Cyprus that opens Act 2 described verbally by the characters on stage?

Answer 13

in order to create a mood of tension for the audience

Question 14

Why does the treatment and murder of Desdemona need to be looked at contextually?

Answer 14

as in Elizabethan england domestic abuse was not uncommon and, except in cases of extreme cruelty, not considered unacceptable as if Desdemona was guilty, the general feeling would be acceptance for her murder

Question 15

the military events of the play are based on historical fact. Elizabethan dramatists often use Italinate settings for plays about intrigue, secret affairs and revenge. Why?

Answer 15

this is because foreign courts were stereotyped as being full of villainy and sexual perversion. While Venice had a reputation as a city of wealth and sophistication, it was also perceived as a place of loose morals

Question 16

How does Shakespeare use the setting of Venice to isolate Othello?

Answer 16

as this immediately portrays him as an outsider, while he serves the senate, he is not Italian unlike his adversary,

Question 17

How is Cyprus described?

Answer 17

as a “warlike island”

Question 18

Away from the civilisation of Venice, Iago’s evil schemes prosper. While Cyprus is threatened by the Turks, what is Othello threatened by?

Answer 18

Iago threatens his peace of mind

Question 19

Cyprus is an isolated setting which is psychologically appropriate. Secure in their love in Venice, othello and Desdemona are wretched apart in Cyprus. Why is this tragically ironic?

Answer 19

as a once great soldier should die for love in a war zone

Question 20

Why was Venice known for sin?

Answer 20

because of the number of courtesans

Question 21

Venice was known for sin because of the number of courtesans, Shakespeares audience would have therefore been familiar with the stereotpe of the sexually decadent italian female. Why is this important?

Answer 21

as In Othello, the perceived immorality of italian women is neatly encapsulated in Emilia’s description of adultery as a ‘small vice’ in Act 4 Scene 3

Question 22

Iago convinces othello that he knows the ‘country disposition’ and thus it is to be expected that his wife should stray, in what act?

Answer 22

Act 3 scene 3

Question 23

Why convincing Othello that he knows the “country disposition” what is he implying?

Answer 23

that Desdemona is sexually corrupt and is likely to commit adultery without bad conscience

Question 24

In what act and scene does Othello begin to doubt himself as a lover when he suggests she has strayed because he is “black”?

Answer 24

Act 3 scene 3

Question 25

Why does Othello’s death give some catharisis?

Answer 25

as it is deeply magic and degrading that a military hero should kill himself in his wife’s bedchamber

Question 26

Where else has Shakespeare portrayed a pair of doomed lovers?

Answer 26

Romeo and Juliet

Question 27

In both Romeo and Juliet and Othello, what does Shakespeare explore?

Answer 27

the tragic consequences of intense love

Question 28

Brabantio and which father from Romeo and Juliet expects his daughter to make a socially acceptable marriage and is angered when she does not?

Answer 28

Capulet

Question 29

There are a number of malcontent and Machiavellian villains in Renaissance drama who share Iago’s cynicism and abuse others to get what they want, such as which villain in which other Shakespearen tragedy?

Answer 29

King Lear, the illegitimate son Edmund who plots against his brother and father for land and titles

Question 30

What has coleridge at the beginning of the 19th century argued in his view of Iago?

Answer 30

that he was ‘A being next to the devil’ and operated without adequate motivation; he is bad because he is bad

Question 31

Who argued that Iago wasA being next to the devil’ and operated without adequate motivation; he is bad because he is bad?

Answer 31

Coleridge at the beginning of the 19th century

Question 32

At the end of the 19th century who argued that othello must be seen as “the noblest man of man’s making”?

Answer 32

Swinburne

Question 33

How does Swinburne describe Othello at the end of the 19th century?

Answer 33

as “the noblest man of man’s making”?

Question 34

What does A.C Bradley say about Othello?

Answer 34

that he was blameless and “the most romantic figure among Shakespearean hero”

Question 35

Who said that othello was blameless and “the most romantic figure among Shakespearean hero”

Answer 35

A.C Bradley

Question 36

Who believes that in the denouement Othello is guilty of trying to cheer himself up and evade reality and the speech is a “terrible exposure of human weakness?

Answer 36

T.S Elliot

Question 37

What does T.S Elliot say about Othello/

Answer 37

that in the denouement Othello is guilty of trying to cheer himself up and evade reality and the speech is a “terrible exposure of human weakness?

Question 38

Why do some critics suggest that othello affirms a morality that is consistent with Christianity>

Answer 38

as the play presents a positive view of love and faith and shows us that venegeance is wicked and pride dangerous

Question 39

Feminist readers of the play explore the gender politics of Othello. What have many feminist critics noted about how female characters in Jacobean tragedies are portrayed?

Answer 39

they are portrayed a victims who have limited power and punished fro their sexulaity

Question 40

Desdemona accepts her culture’s dictum that she must be obedient to males and is self denying in the extreme when she dies. Who said this?

Answer 40

French

Question 41

What has french, feminist critic said about Desdemona?

Answer 41

that she accepts her culture’s dictum that she must be obedient to males and is self denying in the extreme when she dies.

Question 42

What do New Historicist critics seek to consider in Othello?

Answer 42

Othello in relation to its social and historical context, looking at the play in relation to the ideology and beliefs of Shakespearen society

Question 43

What are New Historicist critics particularly interested in?

Answer 43

in whether or not Othello reinforces or subverts the values of Shakespearen society

Question 44

Who describes Desdemona as the embodiment of power when she appears in Act I and defends her right to choose her own husband?

Answer 44

Tennenhouse

Question 45

What does Tennenhouse suggest about Desdemonas power?

Answer 45

that she is the embodiment of power when she appears in Act I and defends her right to choose her own husband

Question 46

What was Jacobean society anxious about?

Answer 46

about the ‘other’ and the plotting against authority figures

Question 47

Why can Othello not hold on to his authority with any confidence or security?

Answer 47

because he is different from the Venetians

Question 48

What does Othellos love for Desdemona have strong overtones of?

Answer 48

medieval courtly love where the woman’s purity is worshipped and idolized

Question 49

What does a post-colonial critique of the play consider?

Answer 49

the way in which Othello’s race is portrayed and considers the hero’s outsider status in a white world

Question 50

What has post-colonial critic Loomba suggested about the central conflict in Othello?

Answer 50

that women and black people existed as the other, with Othello’s marriage to Desdemona rupturing his precarious (not secure) entry into a white world

Question 51

How does Shakespeares play challenge the racist, sexist and colonialist views of his society?

Answer 51

by making the black Othello a hero, and by making Desdemonas love for Othello sympathetic