Othello

Question 1

How does the opening scene illustrate the key elements of tragedys conflict

Answer 1

Reveals Iago’s deep resentment toward Othello

Question 2

Iago calling Cassio a ‘florentine’

Answer 2

A da,Ning epithet condemning the city’s reputation as being a collection of financiers & book keepers
Shows that Cassios not experienced as Iago on the battlefield, everything he knows is learnt form textbooks, more of a student not a practitioner of battle
Even a spinster, Iago says, knows more of the ‘division in battle’ than this ‘bookish theoric’

Question 3

Rodrigo’s unrequited love for Desdemona

Answer 3

Brabantio never thought of Rodrigo as a suitable suitor for Desdemona until he finds out she has eloped with Othello ‘O, that you had had her’

Question 4

Coleridge: “motive hunting motiveless malignity”

Answer 4

Iago was more of an opportunist villain whose ideas gather momentum as he tastes success
Also significant to understand and take into consideration that most of his plotting takes place in the dark

Question 5

Othello put in context

Answer 5

Politically controversial & dangerous, challenging the 17th century where the European cultural norms of what it means to be noble and morally right
Shakespeare wrote his female characters attempting to live in a patriarchal society