1. Othello
Character
Othello

2. Act 2 scene 1 Othello seems happy. Choose a quote from II.i.176-186
He thinks that “our wars are done”.

3. Act 2 Scene 3 Iago has incited a fight between Cassio and Roderigo
In Act 1 he calmly denounces violence: “Keep up your bright swords”
Here he reacts angrily
He compares them to ‘Turks’ and ‘Ottomites’
And feels ‘Christian shame’ at their behaviour
The move to Cyprus has changed Othello

4. He demands explanation: “Give me answer to it” (180)
But the explanation makes him furious
“My blood begins my safer guides to rule” (189)
He thinks he may “but lift this arm” – a threat of possible violence

5. Character Development
Othello
Character Development

6. First Act
What is Othello like?
Does he have any faults or weaknesses?

7. Act 2 Scene 1
Show how in love he is with Desdemona when he is reunited with her
“My fair warrior!”
Comment on this
He feels extremely happy, ironically saying “If it were now to die, ‘Twere to be most happy”

8. Act 2 Scene 3
Othello again shows his trust of Iago: “Iago is most honest”
He wants to protect Desdemona from the ugly, violent brawl: “All’s well now, sweeting; come away to bed” ( )

9. Act 3 Scene 3 – Key Scene
Iago says when Cassio leaves Desdemona: “Ha! I like not that.”
(3.3.35) Here he starts putting his plan into action.
Othello is still kind and gentle with Desdemona (3.3.56). When he agrees to speak to Cassio “The sooner, sweet, for you”
Desdemona shows her compassion and kindness in trying to get Cassio reinstated: “Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my soul.”

10. He seems busy and preoccupied with his responsibilities: “leave me but a little to myself”.
Calls Desdemona “Excellent wretch!” affectionately.
“…when I love thee not
Chaos is come again”
This shows that without Desdemona he is unhappy. D seems to have saved him from a life of trauma and turmoil.
Iago withholds enough to intrigue and frustrate Othello: “Why of thy thought, Iago?…Is he not honest?”

11. (3.3.107-116) “…a monster in his thought Too hideous to be shown”
Jealousy – a monster
There is painful dramatic irony in Othello saying “I know thou’rt full of love and honesty”.
Iago avoiding a direct answer is compared to how “a false disloyal knave” would avoid telling the truth.

12. Othello
Othello gathers himself and says that he will not be plagued by jealousy as it is against his character: “I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove…Away at once with love or jealousy!” ( )
Iago tells him to keep an eye on Desdemona
But Othello says that he will stay calm and this will bother him “Not a jot”
He is trying to convince himself as much as Iago

13. Othello’s soliloquy (260-279)
He compares Desdemona to a “haggard” - a wild hawk. If he cannot train her or control her he will let her go.
He wonders if the problem is “Haply for I am black”
This is the first time he has doubted himself because of his race
Or age: “I am declin’d into the vale of years”
He simply states: “She’s gone, I am abus’d , and my relief Must be to loathe her”
His imagery is ugly and crude saying he would “rather be a toad and live upon the vapour of a dungeon” than a married man.
He repeats the idea of a “plague”

14. Othello is disregarding his public duties as his guests wait for him
He is snappy and abrupt with Desdemona.
It is at this moment he drops his handkerchief
Next time we see Othello his language has deteriorated: “ha, ha, false to me!” ( )
He says that Iago’s information “hast set me on the rack” - a torture instrument
Now he speaks of her in a crude way, saying he would rather all of the soldiers had slept with her as long as he did not know: “I had been happy if the general camp…had tasted her sweet body So nothing I had known”

15. Shakespeare uses repetition of “Farewell” to show that he is saying goodbye to happiness and contentment. ( )
But he focuses on losing his “occupation” and talks in military image. It seems that he does not have the vocabulary to express his emotions.
“Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore” - he threatens Iago.
“I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not”
Paradox expresses the chaos in his mind

16. Othello’s’ rage makes him violent: “I’ll tear her all to pieces!”
When Iago says that he has seen Cassio with the handkerchief Othello swears “revenge”
He wants all his love to disappear “to heaven” ( )
And in its place calls “Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell!”
This is similar to Iago’s words at the end of Act One.

17. Noticeably ‘He kneels’
Noticeably ‘He kneels’. The power relationship has changed between Iago and Othello.
He promotes Iago and tells him he wants him to kill Cassio.
Othello exclaims “O blood, blood, blood!”
O compares his mind to the Black Sea and his “bloody thoughts” to an “icy current”

18. Act 3 Scene 4

19. Desdemona: “my noble Moor is true of mind and made of no such baseness as jealous creatures are”
Dramatic irony – she defends him to Emilia. She thinks Othello is reasonable, not ruled by emotions
Accusations from Othello: “This hand is moist” (32)
“here’s a young and sweating devil”

20. Othello’s language is full of double meanings:
“liberal heart” - generous and free, immoral
Contrast with the first Act
Her hand is “frank” - honest, revealing

21. Othello talks of how precious the handkerchief is
Othello talks of how precious the handkerchief is. It was a gift from his mother. He seems to be slipping into superstition, talking of a “charmer“ ,“spirits” and “magic” (52-64)
Look at the exchange in lines How does Shakespeare convey the conflict between Desdemona and Othello?
Othello pressures D. Does not really give her a chance to speak
Desdemona gets defensive
They don’t speak honestly – the relationship is breaking down

22. Act 4 Scene 1

23. Iago plays another role. He tries to dissuade Othello from overreacting
Othello : “O it comes o’er my memory, as doth the raven o’er the infected house”
The raven is a symbol of death and disease
Foreshadowing
Look at Othello’s speech in lines How does Shakespeare use language to portray his state of mind?
He is speaking in prose. He can’t form sentences – “Noses, ears and lips,” “Handkerchief – confessions – handkerchief.” Minor sentences
Stage direction: “He falls in a trance”
Othello is physically affected by his emotions

24. Iago fools Othello by talking to Cassio about a prostitute he visits called Bianca
Look at Othello’s speeches in lines (p96-8) How does he talk about Desdemona?
“a sweet woman!” – bitter, sarcastic
“I will chop into messes.”
Thinks killing her is “justice”

25. Othello is now completely in Iago’s hands - agreeing to suffocate her in her “contaminated” bed
Othello is completely unreasonable with Desdemona, striking her and shouting at her
Notably Desdemona responds without anger: “sweet Othello”, “I have not deserv’d this”

26. Lodovico says that “this would not be believed in Venice”
Look at Othello’s speech in lines
The word “turn” has a double meaning
His sentences are broken up with pauses
Repetition is now used to show the obsessions in his mind and to allow him to explore words’ double meanings: “obedient”, “weep”

27. Act 4 Scene 2

28. Othello refuses to believe what Emilia tells him.
“This is a subtle whore”
Desdemona seems concerned about Othello when she would be justified in being angry: “Why do you weep?”
Othello confronts Desdemona, using a series of images to describe how he feels his love has been ruined.
Desdemona is as honest “as summer flies in the shambles [slaughterhouse]”
O wishes “thou hadst ne’er been born”

29. Act 5 Scene 2

30. Othello’s soliloquy:
“It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul”
He uses ‘it’ as if he cannot even name adultery.
His speech reminds the audience that she looks white but is also innocent: “that whiter skin of hers than snow and smooth as monumental alabaster”
Othello is calling on darkness - “Put out the light” - again, literally and metaphorically
Another euphemism he uses is “pluck’d the rose” – he loves her, she is beautiful, fragile
He is torn between love and hate

31. Desdemona repeatedly begs for her life
But Othello smothers her, angrily calling her “strumpet”
Emilia still cannot persuade him of D’s innocence
When Iago is accused of lying all Othello can say is “O! O! O!” (197)

32. When Othello finally realises what Iago has done he tries to attack him and wishes Iago could be punished by God: “Are there no stones in heaven but what serves for the thunder?”
He feels hopeless and no longer trusts human justice
He is restrained and then seems too weak to attack Iago; “I am not valiant either.”
He is completely broken and says “Let it go all.” Nothing matters to him any more: bravery, honesty, honour, respect… (244)

33. He goes to Desdemona’s dead body.
He now accepts her “chastity”. Notice this line is much shorter than the standard iambic pentameter (274)
He calls himself a “cursed, cursed slave”.
Othello imagines his punishment in hell: “Whip me, ye devils…Blow me about in winds! Roast me in sulphur!”
Again he descends into a series of painful howls: “O Desdemon! Dead Desdemon! Dead! O! O!”

34. He recovers slightly to justify his actions:
“For naught did I in hate, but all in honour”
He says of Iago: “that demi-devil…hath ensnared my soul and body”
Then returns to pained exclamations “O villain!”, “O fool, fool, fool!”
In his final speech he reminds people that “I have done the state some service”

35. Othello asks that when people tell the story: “Speak of me as I am”
Othello says that he is “one that loved not wisely, but too well”
He “threw a pearl away”
Othello’s final long speech is as eloquent as those in Act 1 Scene 3. He regains respect and seeks to influence how people will think of him

36. He gives a reminder of his service for Venice and then kills himself.
His final lines are addressed to Desdemona and he shows her one last act of tenderness: “to die upon a kiss”
At the end Lodovico and Gratiano take pity on him and Cassio says “he was great of heart”
The other characters judge Othello kindly and he is redeemed.