Lecture 1 ‘Othello the Moor of Venice’ by William Shakespeare

Lecture 1 ‘Othello the Moor of Venice’ by William Shakespeare World of Othello; Othello’s World

Areas of focus • Introductory remarks, and Conflict • A different time; a different place • Historical and cultural factors • A word on Shakespeare’s Theatre • Shakespearean Drama • Shakespearean Tragedy; and Tragic Hero • Literary, linguistic, rhetorical elements • Key Concepts

Introduction: Note the title Othello the Moor of Venice

Introduction (cont) • To study Shakespeare enables you to acquire all kinds of knowledge, ideas, insights, skills, and most of all, wisdom • Increased vocabulary, and use of English • Enriched historical & cross-cultural awareness and intellectual understanding • Enhanced personal development—growth of self confidence and self-esteem

Drama and Conflict In Othello, as with any play— Conflict is the essence of drama.

Introduction: Studying and Enjoying • Shakespeare wanted his plays to entertain and to be enjoyed • A play like Othello should be treated as a script to guide a live performance on stage • For active, imaginative, and co-operative inhabitation of Shakespeare’s world • His language is an invitation to imaginative, dramatic enactment • Play reading: visualizing the script of the play in your mind;

A different time, different place • Clearly a different world • The Elizabethan England of Shakespeare • Distinguishing clearly between Shakespeare’s English world and the European world of his play Othello— Venice, the ‘Hollywood’ of 16th century West • Venice: glamorous, daring, brilliant, wicked city—a city of pearls and perils

The world of Shakespeare's Othello • Notice the names of the characters: Roderigo; Brabantio; Cassio; Iago; Othello • Clearly, Italian sounding names; (though name ‘Iago’ is Spanish for James) • Venice (Venetian); Florence (Florentine) • Venice—a powerful European city-state • Important commercial centre; and to the whole of Christendom as a protector of the Christian faith against Turkey

The city of Venice • Venice is the landless city where different kinds and races meet each other; • The sea is the medium of their wars as money is the medium of their wealth • Venice is for Shakespeare an anthropological laboratory— • suspended between sea and sky, it receives and utilizes all kinds of people

‘This is Venice’ – Brabantio • Audiences had good reason to see Italy as a natural background to sensational dramatic events • On the one hand, Italy, and more particularly, cities like Venice and Florence were centres of civilization • Earliest home of the European Renaissance • A model of learning and sophistication

Moors? and Othello, the Moor • Issue of Othello’s race: Arab or Negro? • Moor (standard definition): a member of the mixed Arab and Berber people of Morocco (North Africa) and the Barbary coast • However, evidence for the kind of Moor Othello is in the play is difficult to interpret • In any case, a dark, or black / white opposition is built into the play at every level

Theatre in Shakespeare’s time • Shakespeare's theatre did not possess the complex stage machinery of modern theatre • to create elaborate sets, lighting, and sound effects; • He therefore had to create atmosphere and setting through language— • Scene painting done in words • Lighting effects achieved through language

Re- Theatre (cont) • Fullest experience of any Shakespearean play was created through words • In Othello, for instance, language is used to evoke tempests • Language is used to create a sense of place

Features of Shakespearean Drama • Every play has its own distinctiveness • Much of his plays written in poetry; verse—blank verse • As well as in prose • Blank verse is a very flexible medium; like normal English speech, capable of a wide range of tones; Speaking Shakespeare— • Iambic pentameter—divide into five feet

Features of Shakespearean drama (cont) • High life characters speak in poetry; low life characters speak in prose • Five act plays, divided into scenes • Soliloquies, Asides, and set speeches • Long speeches—Copia Verborum (abundance, plentiness of words) • The nature of Shakespeare’s stage directions

A sense of Shakespearean Tragedy • Genre? Kind / type of play: Othello is a tragedy • In Tragedy (tragic drama), there is always a fall; the playwright is concerned with its causes, the way it works, its effects • Associated with Tragedy is the notion of the ‘boomerang’ • The effect of the Tragic Hero’s actions on himself; totally different effect to that intended

The Tragic Hero • For the tragic hero, • there is also the concept of the acquisition of self-knowledge; • This refers to the knowledge of himself that comes to the Tragic Hero through suffering

In Tragedy—must be a Tragic Hero • Whose situation changes from well-being to misfortune • Brought upon him by some error of judgment on his part, arising from a flaw in his character, some human weakness • Essential he contributes to some extent to his own downfall • Who must suffer for his wrong-doing on this earth until he has expiated his offences

Definition of Tragic Hero • The Tragic Hero is a potentially noble person • Who, through some flaw in his character • Helps to bring about his own downfall, a • And who by suffering acquires self-knowledge • And so purges his faults

Literary elements • Rich and varied use of poetic imagery • Symbolism e.g. the tempest • Personification • Rhythm e.g. the steady rhythm of Othello’s earlier blank verse • Sound repetition: Assonance, Alliteration, and onomatopoeia; Rhyme • Puns [The Elizabethans delighted in wordplay] • Dramatic irony: Irony of situation; irony of speech

Literary elements—we note Iago uses • bombastic, patterned, balanced language, abounding in latinisms • when he is speaking to Roderigo • For example, ‘it was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration’ – Iago in Act 1, Scene 3, lines 345-346 • Use of patterned dialogue

Linguistic elements • Use of pronouns: ‘You’ and ‘Thee’ • Shakespeare’s use of thee, thou, thy, thine • Thou can imply either closeness or contempt • ‘You’ is more formal and distant form of address suggesting respect for a superior or courtesy to a social equal • Use of transitive verbs • Use of aptly chosen adjectives

Shakespearean / Elizabethan English • Tush - rubbish; Sblood - by God’s blood • Forsooth • Hath • Full hard • Marry (swears by the Virgin Mary) • Hotly - urgently • Moons - months • Prithee - pray you • Haply - perhaps • Note: Words that have changed in meaning

Rhetoric: Art of Persuasion • All the ways of using language to convince others, or move someone to action • Use of particular linguistic techniques to gain the confidence of listeners, appeal to their reason, their emotions, and their imagination • In Othello, as in all plays, powerfully persuasive voices are heard as characters try to convince other characters;

Rhetorical techniques / devices • Lengthy speeches—copia verborum • Bombast (inflated language) • Powerful antithesis; Hyperbole • All kinds of repetitions, and lists (enumeration) • Anaphora: the same words beginning successive sentences • Epizeuxis: repeating words in immediate succession • Antanaclasis: punning on a repeated word to obtain different dramatic effects

Some central Concepts • Individual; Outsider; Society; Culture • Conflict; Tragedy; (Shakespearean Tragedy) • Tragic hero; Concepts of Heaven and Hell; • Concepts of Good, and Evil; Love and Hate • Concepts of Appearance and Reality • Concept of Belief and Knowledge • Concept of Cause; Reason and Evidence • Concepts of Order and Chaos; • Concept of Antithesis

Finally, remember……??? • Read the play…carefully and thoroughly • In reading the play, (may I suggest) you acquire and use a CD aural dramatization to enable you to follow and make better sense of the context of the play’s text. • Seek opportunities to see the play in performance; to experience it theatrically • Seize opportunities to read literary criticism… • Seek opportunities to discuss the play

Lecture 1 ‘Othello the Moor of Venice’ by William Shakespeare