Give three points that suggest Othello’s character is full of oppositions.
- Othello is a black man, but is accepted by many of the white Venetians.
- He’s a fierce warrior and a loving husband, so there’s conflict between his personal life and military role.
- Initially, he’s self controlled but by the end of the play he’s irrational and violent.
Support how Othello is part of the Venetian society.
- Othello is accepted by the Venetians, and he’s welcomes into their social circles.
- Othello says that Brabantio “loved me, oft invited me,/Still questioned me the story of my life”.
- Even the duke acknowledges Othello’s attractiveness: “I think this tale would win my daughter too”.
Support how Othello is not part of the Venetian society.
- Othello is often described using racial language - Roderigo and Iago call him “the Moor”, “the thick-lips” and “an old black ram” in the first scene alone.
- Before Othello appears, Brabantio, Roderigo and Iago have all condemned him - they see him as an outsider from the start.
Describe the ‘far more fair than black’ line.
Othello is like this because his ambiguity challenges the racial stereotype that blackness was associated with immorality. However, this line also reinforces the idea that whiteness or fairness equates with goodness.
What happens in Act 2, Scene 1?
Othello and Deses meeting reveals the intensity of their relationship. Othello seems overcome with happiness: “I cannot speak…/… it is too much of joy”.
Aside from race, why is their relationship problematic?
Othello’s struggle to be both a husband and a soldier causes tensions - he refuses to be distracted from his military duties, and acknowledges that “tis the soldiers life/To have their balmy slumbers waked with strife”.
What does Iago encourage Othello to admit about the marriage?
That their relationship is “nature, erring from itself” and he remind him that Des “did deceive her father, marrying you”.
Describe Othello’s transition from the start to the end of the play.
- He changes from being a noble man to being plagued with “savage madness”.
- He loses control emotionally and physically, and becomes violent, striking Des in Act 4 Scene 1.
- He loses his eloquence, and his language becomes increasingly crude and incoherent, as he shouts phrases like “Fire and brimstone!”.
What does critic F.R. Leavis argue about Othello’s downfall.
That Othello was responsible for his own downfall and that Iago targeted an existing weakness - that he’s predisposed to being jealous.
Othello becomes preoccupied with his own emotions and has a tendency to be self-centred.
Give another reason for Othello’s downfall.
He believes that all women are naturally promiscuous and that it’s “fated” for men to be cuckolded - this means that he’s more likely to accept that Des is unfaithful.
Describe the importance of Othello’s military reputation.
It is integral to his identity and his status in Venetian society, so he is very proud of it and wary of losing it.
Describe how Othello’s personal life and professional life are incompatible.
His military career suffers as a result of the problems in his marriage: “Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate/Call all in all sufficient?”
What can Othello’s suicide be seen as?
An act of redemption - by taking his life he punishes himself for his crime and regains his nobility.
