| Title | Othello |
| Author | William Shakespeare |
| Genre | Tragedy |
| Setting | Island of Cyprus and Venice, during the Renaissance period. |
| Characters and Brief Description | Othello- the novel’s protagonist and general of the Venitian army. He was a slave who climbed up in the social mobility ladder by earning prestige through his military career. Because of his African descent he constantly insecure of being discriminated against, rightly so. He is at first a calm person who had it together before Iago, his lieutenant, planted thoughts about his new bride, Desdemona, sleeping around with another man, Cassio.Desdemona- Othello’s newly-wed wife, Desdemona is a pacific wife from the Renaissance period. Her virtue is challenged by Othello during the novel, regardless she keeps her loyalty despite being accused of sleeping with Cassio, a scheme set up by Iago.Iago- Othello’s right-hand man and the novel’s main antagonist. Iago is an insane jealous man who comes up with a scheme to get Othello to believe that Desdemona slept with Cassio, due to his unjust suspicions of Othello sleeping with his own wife.Cassio- One of Othello’s military personell. He is the main instrument of Iago’s scheme in getting Othello to believe that he slept with his wife. His interactions with Desdemona actually stem from Cassio getting in a fight with one of the politicians during the post-war festivities. |
| Point of View | Two: the writer and the viewers. |
| Symbols/Images | Desdemona’s handkerchief represents her virtue. During the play it’s initially given to Desdemona by Othello, then passed on to Emilia, then to Iago, then to Cassio and finally to Bianca, the prostitute. The green eyed monster represents the evil nature from Iago that led to Othello becoming raged with jealousy. |
| Narrative Techniques | The novel is a play, so its narrative techniques are dialogue in between characters. |
| Description and Significance of Opening Scene and Closing Scene | The opening scene starts off with Iago and Rodrigo talking about Desdemona in front of her father’s house. Now, the closing scene consists of Iago being captured by the guards, Ludovico and Cassio, next to Othello’s, Desdemona’s and Emilia’s corpses. |
| Plot Details | Iago and Rodrigo begin to conspire against Othello, shortly after learning that he married Desdemona. The two tell Barbanzio, Desdemona’s father, and the three men along with some guards confront Othello about his unforeseen elopement with Desdemona. With the guards’ spears against his throat he reveals that their love is legitimate in court. During their battle’s most recent celebration, Rodrigo gets Cassio to get into a drunken fight with one of the governors, this causes Cassio to lose his career and his reputation. As a result, Cassio starts talking to Desdemona about getting Othello to reverse his decision on Cassio’s post. Iago plants jealousy into Othelo’s head and his scheme is made even stronger when he gets hold of Desdemona’s handkerchief. Things turn ugly when Othello confronts Desdemona about the handkerchief. He later kills her then himself. |
| Topics/Themes | Insecurity: Othello comes from Africa as a slave and climbed up through socioeconomic mobility to the position as general that he is in now. He is the only black person in a position within his proximity, and at a time where racism was a given, he couldn’t help but to feel a sense of insecurity, especially when he heard the rumors about his wife cheating on him. Betrayal: Iago was Othello’s right hand man and he betrayed Othello by conspiring against him. Not ojnly did he betray Othello, but he also betrayed Rodrigo, the person who he was betraying Othello with. |
Othello flash card set
August 28, 2019