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Summary 2017 A* AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE OTHELLO SCENE ESSAY - Act III Scene IV
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2017 A* AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE OTHELLO SCENE ESSAY - Act III Scene IV Following Othello's temptation scene
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2017 Othello – William Shakespeare Read theextract below and then answer the question.
Explore the significance of this extract in
relation to the tragedy of the play as a whole.
[25 Marker]
2017
Othello – William Shakespeare Read the extract below and then answer the question. Explore
the significance of this extract in relation to the tragedy of the play as a whole. Remember to
include in your answer relevant analysis of Shakespeareʼs dramatic methods.
The effect which Iago has already had on Othelloʼs psychology.
The significance of the handkerchief.
Othelloʼs tragedy being one of a man-self-consumed as exhibited in his handkerchief
speech.
The extract comes from Act III Scene IV following the temptation scene in Othello where Iagoʼs
manipulation of Othello can be seen as being successful with the “green eyed monster” in
Othelloʼs mind already being awakened. The scene begins with an immediate sense of the end
as Othelloʼs psychology begins to show clear effects of Iagoʼs scheming beginning his
peripeteia from a “man highly renowned and prosperous” to the “perplexed” state in which he
kills Desdemona. The scene in pivotal in the play as it demonstrates the representation of
Othello replacing Desdemonaʼs position in his mind with Iago. The scene explores the tragic
themes of the tragic villains effect, the symbolic nature of the handkerchief, and the hamartia of
the tragic hero Othello, whether it be idolatry love or his conceitedness.
As Othello enters the scene and immediately demands Desdemonaʼs handkerchief through the
declarative “lend me thy handkerchief” the effects of Iagoʼs manipulation can already be seen
on Othelloʼs mind. Although he states in Act III Scene III that “Iʼll see before I doubt and when I
doubt I prove” he begins the extract demanding the “ocular proof” from Desdemona herself.
The significance he places on the handkerchief agrees with certain critics interpretations that
Othelloʼs tragedy is one of ‘miscommunicationʼ. Much like Posthumous in Cymbeline who gives
his lover a manacle; “upon my fairest prisoner I place thee”, Othello gives Desdemona a love
token as a symbol of his affection while it symbolises Desdemonaʼs fidelity. In reality the token
symbolises the restrictions of the marriage and failure to communicate properly resulting in the
tragedy. This can arguably be seen as a criticism by Shakespeare on the commodification of
love in a form of anti-capitalism as both lovers focus on the object of their love instead of actual
loves, neglecting them as Hamlet neglects Ophelia leading to numerous tragic victims by the
end of the plays. This scenes significance can therefore be seen as foreshadowing the
significant role in which the handkerchief plays later on in the play.
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