Paper 1A – Literary Genres – Aspects of Tragedy
Section A
• 2018 – Section A - 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 Shakespeare’s dramatic methods. [25
marks]
AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations
- Shakespeare’s use of the soliloquy to develop the complexity and mystery of Iago’s character and
villainy here and elsewhere
- Contempt felt for Iago’s cruel plotting against Othello, Cassio and Desdemona here and elsewhere
- Sympathy felt for the hapless and gullible Roderigo who believes Iago’s lies here and elsewhere
- Fascination and bemusement at the depth of Iago’s hatred and evil
- The terror inspired by Iago’s calculating mind, his skipping from point to point and his easy sliding
over the unconvincing reasons for his grievances
- Puzzlement at his motivation, the motive hunting and the motiveless malignancy
- The feeling that the audience is caught up in Iago’s evil, their becoming his accomplices
- ‘Reading’ and analysing Iago from a psychoanalytical perspective
- Lago’s role as a malcontent
- Lago’s warped ideas about love, eg his trading with Roderigo for Desdemona, his collocating love and
lust, his desire to be revenged on Othello and Cassio because he thinks they may have slept with his
wife
- The expectation that furthers horrors will unfold, the promise and expectation set up by the rhyming
couplet that ends the soliloquy
AO4 Explore connections across literary texts
- villainy as seen in Iago’s Machiavellian planning
- the tragic aspect of power seen here in Iago’s control and manipulation of Roderigo
,- victimisation as seen in the treatment of Roderigo and in Iago’s plotting against Othello, Cassio and
Desdemona
- the tragic aspect of revenge as seen in Iago’s wanting to get even with Othello ‘wife for wife’ or
putting Othello into a ‘jealousy so strong that judgement cannot cure’.
AO3 Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts
are written and received
- the setting of a public street in Cyprus near the harbour where Othello, Cassio and Desdemona have
just arrived
- the psychological context seen here in Iago’s internal musings, his motive hunting, his psychopathic
planning
- the context of the affections seen here in the discussions about love and Iago’s revelations of his lust
for Desdemona and his hatred for Othello, perhaps also his desire for Othello’s love
- the gender context seen here in the disparaging way Iago speaks of Desdemona and Emilia
AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts
- the concluding part of the dialogue (and plan) between Iago and Roderigo after Iago has persuaded
Roderigo that Desdemona is in love with Cassio and before Othello’s proclamation that there will be
celebrations to mark the end of the war
- the contrast of the exchanges between Iago and Roderigo which are in prose and the elevated verse
for Iago’s soliloquy
- the exit of Roderigo leaving Iago alone on stage to reveal his thought process and emergent plans to
the audience
- the exit of Iago after the rhyming couplet
- the use of imperatives in Iago’s speeches to Roderigo, his use of simple language and careful step by
step instructions to humour and manipulate Roderigo
- the simple and brief replies of Roderigo in contrast to the length of speeches from Iago reflecting the
power imbalance
- the balanced and measured lines in Iago’s soliloquy revealing his calculating mind
- the structural development of the verse with the focus on Othello at the start and end (Othello is
first described as having ‘a constant, loving noble nature’ and Iago’s intention is to have Othello
thank him, love him and reward him), the reduction of the noble nature of Othello to ‘an ass’, one
who will be practised upon ‘Even to madness’
- Iago’s use of contemptuous language for all characters who will be woven into his plan – ‘the Moor’,
‘this poor trash of Venice’, ‘our Michael Cassio’, ‘my night-cap’
- the emotive and sexual language and imagery – ‘absolute lust’, ‘leaped into my seat’, ‘diet my
revenge’, ‘poisonous mineral’, ‘gnaw my inwards’ - revealing Iago’s perversion and depravity
- the use of diabolical language – ‘Knavery’s plain face is never seen till used’
- the use of irony: Iago’s claim that Othello will prove to Desdemona a ‘ most dear husband’
,• 2019 – Section A - 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 Shakespeare’s dramatic methods. [25
marks]
AO5 Explore literary texts informed by different interpretations
- the tragic trajectory of the extract from Othello's self condemnation after he learns about why Cassio
had possession of the handkerchief ('O fool, fool, fool!'), through the further revelations about Iago's
and Roderigo's roles, to Lodovico establishing order and government by promoting Cassio;
movement to the grandeur of Othello's final speech and suicide when he falls on the bed on which
the murdered Desdemona and Emilia lie; Othello's kissing Desdemona as he dies; following this
extract are the choric voices of Lodovico and Gratiano which are used to complete the play and signal
the return to Venice
- the tragic completion of both Othello's story and the tragic pattern
- the completion of the love story and the domestic tragedy
- the death of Othello and the visual reminders of the deaths of Desdemona and Emilia
- the resolution of the tragedy with the uncovering of the final pieces of Iago's plot
- the emerging of positives at the play's conclusion
- Othello's role as tragic hero, his taking control at this stage of the play
- Othello's journey from ignorance to knowledge
- Othello's assessment of himself and readers' / audiences' judgements about its validity
- his attempt to write his own epitaph and control future stories
- whether he is ennobled by his speech or whether it is more of Othello's self dramatizing
- the significance of Othello's storytelling- his last story told here
- reactions from his onstage audience and the theatre audience watching the stage audience
- the meting out of punishment - Othello's of himself, the state's proposed punishment of Iago
- the role of Cassio in the resolution, the hope for the future now that Cassio rules in Cyprus
, - the choric roles of Lodovico and Gratiano
- the return of order and the re-establishment of the control of the Venetian state
- Iago's being on stage, silent and alive
AO4 Explore connections across literary texts
- Tragic resolution since this is the ending of the play
- the tragic aspect of the death of the tragic hero
- the fall of the tragic hero as seen in the final part of Othello’s story
- the idea that in tragedy positives emerge and order is restored as seen in Lodovico’s control and the
promotion of Cassio
- tragic villainy as seen in the stage presence of Iago and the revelation of his plot
AO3 Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts
are written and received
- the setting of Othello's bedchamber and the significance of the bed
- the moral context of punishment for wrong doing as Othello exacts justice on himself and as
Lodovico takes Iago away for his punishment
- the context of the affections as seen in Othello's love for his wife, his grief for her death and regret at
what he has done
- the geographical and social contexts established by the references to Venice, Cyprus and Othello's
foreign background and experiences
AO2 Analyse ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts
- the concluding part of Othello’s life after he has killed his wife and learned the truth about Iago’s
deceitful plot
- the contrast of the voices of Cassio, Lodovico and Othello
- the repetition of the word ‘fool’ as Othello berates himself
- Othello’s self dramatising
- Othello’s final elevated, controlled and measured speech, its building to his dramatic climactic death
through an extended story
- the use and effect of exotic imagery - ‘base Indian’ who ‘threw a pearl away’, the ‘subdued eyes’
‘unused to the melting mood’, the ‘Arabian trees’ dropping ‘their med’cinable gum’, the ‘turbaned
Turk’ in ‘Aleppo’
- Othello’s attempt to write his own epitaph: ‘Of one that loved not wisely, but too well; / Of one, not
easily jealous but, being wrought, / Perplexed in the extreme’, ‘Set you down this...’
- The dramatic action of Othello’s stabbing himself
- The reactions of the stage audience
- Othello’s falling on the bed on which Desdemona and Emilia lie, his kissing his wife and dying upon a
kiss
