Othello

Question 1

Overview

Answer 1

• Honourable
• Outsider
• Impressive
• Believes in the power of love
• Self-assurance
• Tragedy

Question 2

Mediator (Beginning of the play)

Answer 2

• Prudent (acting with or showing care and thought for the future)
• Doesn’t view violence as a solution
• Uses his strength and speech to prove himself worthy
• Immune to toxic masculinity which defines may heroes in literature and within his own military culture

Question 3

The leader (the beginning of the play)

Answer 3

• Puts his obligations to others before his own
• Peacemaking

Question 4

The doting husband (beginning of the play)

Answer 4

• Mutual respect between him and Desdemona
• Shakespeare illustrates the strength Othello draws from Desdemona’s support rather than one’s power over the other

Question 5

The lover (the beginning)

Answer 5

• Loyalty to his wife
• Love brightens Othello spirit
• Optimist

Question 6

The gullible disciple (At the beginning)

Answer 6

• Unwavering in his faith in Desdemona’s loyalty
•Othello is too quick to trust when he comments on Iago’s trustworthiness, “good Iago”(Act 2 Scene 1), “most honest”(Act 2 Scene 3)

Question 7

The Rational Thinker (At the beginning)

Answer 7

• Aware of his own weaknesses and of the temptations
• “Away at once with jealousy”, Shakespeare hints at Othello’s hubris, he is overconfident, believing in himself immune to the feelings that would compromise rational thought

Question 8

The tortured soul (At the end of the play)

Answer 8

• Act 3 Scene 3
• He gives into paranoia and doubt
• Doubts plaguing Othello’s mind
• Othello’s greatest nemesis is his own mind
• Obsession with evidence, reduces Desdemona to a series of arbitrary objects (the handkerchief)

Question 9

The warrior (At the end of the play)

Answer 9

• Bloodthirsty side of his army background
• Looses military authority
• Shakespeare details the glorification of violence “farewell the big wars” Act 3 Scene 3
• Feels disconnected from his role
• Love is a weakness and an obstacle he must overcome to attain victory

Question 10

The Judge, Jury and executioner (At the end of the play)

Answer 10

• His worldview narrows
• Fighting his own personal war
• Lost an awareness of justice and fair trial
• Othello craves the death of his enemies rather than truth
• Lawfulness and justice is centromeres around his desires
• “First to be hanged and then to confess” (Act 4 Scene 1)

Question 11

The Cuckold

Answer 11

• Feels his identity is being reduced to a cuckold upon Desdemona’s betrayal
• His speech is full of “death and damnation” Act 3 Scene 3
• Craves validation to achieve this, Desdemona, a symbol of insecurity must die