These in-depth notes in Othello will help you aim for an A* in English Literature. They are not only based on revision guides but a compilation of critical essays which will enhance your essay writing skills.
These notes focus on the characters of Desdemona, Iago and Othello. As well as some o...
● Othello’s very place in the script is uncertain and unstable due to Iago.
● Othello is the only tragedy in which the protagonist does not have the most
lines to speak. This distinction belongs to Iago, who speaks almost one-third
more lines than Othello
● Iago gains mastery over Othello making him appear more prominent.
○ Key Questions to consider
■ Is Othello the subject or object of the tragedy?
■ Although the name of the play is Othello, is it really his play?
The similarities between Othello and Iago
● Iago the Italian is isolated (even from his wife), envious, enigmatic (even to
himself), and self-centred; Othello is surrounded and protected by a network of
duties, obligations, esteem, pious to his father-in-law, deferential to his
superiors, kind to his subordinates, loving to his wife. However, as the play
continues they become more and more similar.
● There are other links between Othello and Iago—both are outsiders,
unenfranchised in Venetian society; both tell elaborate narratives; both suffer
from jealousy; both engineer the death of Cassio; both carry revenge and dress
in nightshirts in Act 5.2.; and both kill their wives. It could be said Iago is the
darker side of Othello
● The Schlegel line of criticism suggests that Othello and Iago were both devils
from the beginning; just as Iago hides his identity from the play’s other
characters, so does Othello hides his identity from the other characters, the
audience, and himself.
, OTHELLO
OTHELLO’S RACE
● Othello’s tragedy is that of a black man whose humanity is eroded by the
cunning and racism of white society and characters
● Othello could also be seen as an example of the Mandingo Syndrome? (fear of
a black man’s sexuality). This is shown by Brabantio’s reaction to Iago's quote
about “making the beast with two backs”
● Heroic blackness may have been an impossibility. Is Othello forced to become a
villain because of his blackness? In Shakesperian times black people were seen
as devils. Prehaps Othello was fated to become a villain; he could never stay a
hero.
● “ Your son-in-law is far more fair than black” - Although the Duke is giving a
compliment throughout the play there is visible built-in racial bias.
● “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind” - Othello’s literal visage is an awkward
problem that lingers as a point of weakness that is subject to others’
manipulation—an opening that Iago eagerly exploits in Act Three, Scene Three.
● “Who art so lovely fair” (4.2.69)— frames his approach in racial terms because the
keyword “fair” is already firmly linked to the idea of racial whiteness.
● It is generally accepted that the audience’s potential prejudices against the
black protagonist are reversed in the play’s first act because Othello is
identified as worthy by both the Venetian state and he is a Christian.
OTHELLO’S VIOLENT ACTIONS
● Othello breeds dissonance (a lack of agreement). If we side with Othello, we run
the risk of valorising and vindicating his unthinkable deeds.
● Analysing Othello’s last speech (“Soft you, a word or two before you go”), T.S.
Eliot declared: What Othello seems to me to be doing in making this speech is
cheering himself up. He is endeavouring to escape reality, he has ceased to
think about Desdemona and is thinking about himself.
○ Key Question to consider
■ Is Othello a violent criminal, or simply a man who loved not wisely
but too well?
OTHELLO’S REPUTATION
● At the beginning of the play, Othello enjoyed a reputation as the “noble Moor.”
● Othello’s “occupation” as a soldier/warrior is at the heart of many problems
both character and play raise. Because of his reputation at the start of the
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