O THELLO Teaching Ideas for:

Q UICK S UMMARY OF O THELLO The story of William Shakespeare's Othello is set in 16th-century Venice and Cyprus. Othello (the Moor) is a noble black warrior in the Venetian army, has secretly married a beautiful white woman called Desdemona. Othello’s so-called friend, Iago, harbours a secret jealousy and resentment towards Othello, partly because another soldier, lieutenant Cassio, has been promoted ahead of him. Intent on revenge, Iago hatches a devious plan to plant suspicions in Othello’s mind that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio. He orchestrates a street fight, for which Cassio is wrongly blamed, and is then dismissed from his post by Othello. Desdemona defends Cassio, which only further inflames his suspicions that the pair are lovers. Iago manages to gets his hands on Desdemona’s special hankerchief, given to her by Othello. Iago plants it on Cassio so that Othello sees it and confirms his theory of an affair. Maddened by jealousy, he orders Iago to murder Cassio, and then he strangles Desdemona. Immediately afterwards her innocence is revealed, and Iago’s treachery exposed. In a fit of grief and remorse Othello kills himself. Iago is taken into custody by the Venetian authorities.

H OW TO INTRODUCE YOUR PLAY TO YOUR CHOSEN YEAR LEVEL (Y EAR 10): Before beginning to read the play I would have an activity that links it to students own lives and experiences. This example uses the modern social term of ‘Frienemy’ to introduce the theme of betrayal throughout the Shakespeare play ‘Othello’ Watch Mean Girls Clip ( and divide the class in half, moving their desks to face each other. Have students discuss whether friends should be completely honest regardless of the consequences, or lie for “their own good.” Organise students into 2 teams for a mini debate in the classroom where all students are given the opportunity to discuss and debate the issue. Groups are given a few minutes to gather their arguments and organise strategy.

A N APPROACH TO TEACHING AN ASPECT SUCH AS A SCENE, CHARACTER OR INTRODUCING S HAKESPEARE MORE GENERALLY : Examining Character Relationships Assign students character- celebrity relationships. For Example: Othello and Desdemona - Chris Brown and Rihanna, Othello and Iago - Ronnie and Mike from Jersey Shore, Roderigo and Desdemona - Artie Ziff and Marge Simpson, from the Simpsons

A DEMONSTRATION OF THIS APPROACH : Have students works in a pair to see where the differences/similarities lie between the celebrity and character couples. Create a class list of similarities and differences between the Othello couples and the celebrity couples. Name some archetypal traits about the relationship you looked at. How has Shakespeare created relationships we can still relate to today?

F OR EXAMPLE : SimilaritiesDifferences The male in the character relationship is obsessed with the female Roderigo follows Iago’s plan to get Desdemona, whereas Artie has his own plans to win over Marge The male is rich and fairly powerful, but cannot woo the female Desdemona gets killed by her jealous husband Othello, whereas Homer chooses to win Marge over instead of killing her The female is in love with someone else, and is not at all attracted to the male Artie gives up on pursuing Marge, whereas Roderigo has no choice because Desdemona is dead Similarities and Differences- Roderigo and Desdemona - Artie Ziff and Marge Simpson, from the Simpsons

I DEAS S OURCED F ROM : ualLibrary/FSU/FSU2011_Maxwel l_Othello_Unit.pdf