AO2 Form: Setting and Iago’s control | We are in a street at night like first scene of play- Confusion- Event to end what started |
AO2 Form and Characterisation: Iago | – Iago still in control- RUTHLESS Lack of respect for human life ‘he must die’- Like storm scene, wedding celebrations – Iago gets desired result |
AO4: Oliver Parker’s depiction of Roderigo | – Chokes on his own blood and dies- Shakespeare – dialogue “inhuman dog!” (simiar to Othello – both victims)- Julius Caesar like betrayal |
AO4: Othello and the revenge tragedy | – carnage and mutilation imagery “leg is cut in two”, “heart”, “eyes” , “charms” (Othello) – cannibalistic- A play within a play – Cassio/Iago/Roderigo conflict (metatheatre) |
AO4: Love makes women helpless victims | – Bianca wrongly accused- Sexual love/liberty in women condemned? – Reminder of Emilia’s speech – expect societal pressure to victimise her – Shocking to Jacobean audience – her protests are similar to Desdemona’s? Transformative? |
“Quick, quick, fear nothing, I’ll be at thy elbow.It makes us or it mars us, think on thatAnd fix most firm thy resoution.””Here at thy hand: be bold, and take thy hand” | AO5: Arguably “brotherly love” or could argue in a crude way, he does show fake ‘love’ towards Roderigo; like a mentor – Love and its link to violence (AO4) – Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt, Capulet, Romeo |
“Minion, your dear lies dead And your unblest fate hies; strumpet I come. Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted,Thy bed, lust-stained, shall with lust’s blood be spotted” | – Soliloquy – Unable to name her; intent on using derogatory labels that Iago has indoctrinated him with – Distorted justice reflects that of Iago’s – lust stained, lust’s blood – Charms = witchcraft? – Represents love as sexual, punishing, sinister, complex, insecure, misunderstanding/confusion |
”O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!” | – First to realise Iago’s love is not true- The facile misinterpretation of love represented- Dehumanising and controlling passion when love goes out of hand |
“O my dear Cassio, my sweet cassio!'”O notable strumpet!’ “Do you perceive the gastness of her eye?””This is the fruits of whoring””I am not strumpetbut of life as honest as you, that thus abuse me” | – Love is beyond social class and roles e.g. prostitute- Deceivingly typicalised to who it is coming from – Prostitute’s love can be purer than that of a much more respectable woman- Universal and pure love – Feminist pov |
Act 5 Scene 1 – Othello
July 18, 2019