Othello

Question 1

List the AO5 for the theme of reputation:

Answer 1

• A.C. Bradley argues that reputation in Othello functions as a form of ‘social currency’ that defines characters and their social interactions
• Newman states that Othello’s violent response to her alleged infidelity reflects the societal norms that tether male reputation to female virtue

Question 2

List the AO5 for the theme of betrayal:

Answer 2

• August states that Othello’s internalisation of racial prejudices makes him more vulnerable to Iago’s manipulation
• Dorothy Wilkins suggests Desdemona’s alleged betrayal is viewed through the lens of gendered expectations ; where her supposed infidelity challenges Othello’s masculinity and honour

Question 3

List the three AO5 for the theme of love:

Answer 3

• Honningman believes that love triumphs all
• Mario argues that live is a fragile concept that can be easily dismantled by external lies and societal pressures
• Hatcheul states that Iago understands love as a vulnerability using Othello’s affection to control his actions and lead him to ruin

Question 4

List the AO5 for the theme of women:

Answer 4

• Ruth Vanita states that the innocent wives subjected to tests and ordeals are more likely to end up dead than triumphant
• Keir Elam argues that the speech of women occupies a pivotal position in the play’s moral world
• John Knox believes that women are weak, frail and impatient
• Aristotle believes that women are tameable and submissive

Question 5

List the two critics for the theme of jealousy:

Answer 5

• Stallybrass believes that the concept of jealousy in Othello is the ‘fear of loss’
• Valerie identifies jealousy as a disruption resulting from the anxieties of a masculinist culture in which women’s bodies hold powers of significance

Question 6

List the two critics for the theme of race:

Answer 6

• Boose observed that the visible difference of skin colour will increasingly come to define race perhaps because it cannot be changed
• Kim Hall points out that the images of whiteness, fairness and chastity are juxtaposed throughout the play with the ‘blackness’ that indicates Othello’s exclusion from elite venetian male culture

Question 7

List the two critics for the theme of tragedy:

Answer 7

• A.C Bradley argues that Othello’s tragic flaw is his vulnerability to jealousy which when manipulated by Iago leads to the destruction of his virtue and identity
• Robert Wilson states the tragic nature of Othello extends beyond the personal to the societal. Othello’s murder of Desdemona disrupts the harmony of the Venetian state and it’s societal structure

Question 8

List 4 quotes for the theme of ‘Betrayal’

Answer 8

• Othello says in Act 3, Scene 3: “Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her, damn her!”
• Iago says in Act 1, Scene 1: “I follow him to serve my turn upon him”
• Iago says in Act 1, Scene 3: “He has done my office”
• Othello says Act 3, Scene 4: “To lose’t or give’t away were such were such a perdition. As nothing else could match”

Question 9

List 3 quotes for the theme of ‘Jealousy’

Answer 9

• Iago says in Act 3, Scene 3: “O beware my lord of jealousy: it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on”
• Othello says in Act 5, Scene 2: “Speak of me as I am: … of one not easily jealous”
• Othello says in Act 3, Scene 3: “ Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy”

Question 10

List 3 quotes for the theme of ‘Women’

Answer 10

• Iago says in Act 2, Scene 1: “ Nay, if it is true, or else I am a turk: you rise to play and go to bed to work”
• Othello says in Act 3, Scene 3: “O curse of marriage that we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites”
• Emilia says in Act 3, Scene 4: “They are all but stomachs and we all but food: They eat us hungrily, and when they are full. They belch us”

Question 11

List 4 quotes for the theme of ‘Reputation’

Answer 11

• The Duke of Venice in Act 1, Scene 3: “Valiant Othello”
• Iago in Act 2, Scene 3: “She shall undo her credit with the Moor . So will I turn her virtue into pitch”
• Cassio in Act 2, Scene 3: “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial”
• Across the play ‘Good lieutenant’ and ‘Honest Iago’

Question 12

List 5 quotes for the theme of ‘Race’

Answer 12

• Roderigo in Act 1, Scene 1: “Black ram is tupping your white ewe”
• Roderigo in Act 1, Scene 3: “Your son-in-law is far more fair than black”
• Brabantio in Act 1, Scene 3: “Sans witchcraft could not”
• Othello in Act 1, Scene 3: “Haply for I am black”
• Across the play Othello is referred to as: “The moor”

Question 13

List 5 quotes for the theme of ‘Love’:

Answer 13

• Desdemona says in Act 2, Scene 3: “The greatest discords be that e’er our hearts make”
• Othello says in Act 1, Scene 3: “She loved me for the dangers I had passed I loved her for that she did pity them”
• Othello says in Act 1, Scene 3: “She gave me for my pains a world of kisses”
• Emilia says in Act 5, Scene 2: “I will not charm my tongue .. my mistress here lies murdered on her bed”
• Othello says in the beginning of the play “Sweet Desdemona”

Question 14

List 2 quotes for the theme of ‘Public vs Private’

Answer 14

• Othello in Act 4, Scene 1: ‘Strikes her’
• Othello says in Act 4, Scene 1: “Mistress” contrasting “Sweet Desdemona”

Question 15

List 2 quotes for the theme of ‘Gender’

Answer 15

• Iago says to Roderigo in Act 1, Scene 3: “Come be a man. Drown thyself ? Drown cats and blind puppies”
• Othello says to Iago in Act 3, Scene 3: “Even then this forked plague is fated to us”