Othello by William Shakespeare

1. Othello by William Shakespeare

2. Unit Objectives: By the end, students should be able to • Discuss the techniques Shakespeare uses to convey character and character relationships to his audience. • Analyze the characters of Emilia, Desdemona, Othelo, Iago, and Cassio and their relationships to each other. • Analyze the importance of literary elements such as dramatic irony and foreshadowing on the development of the play.

3. Objectives Continued….. • Trace and discuss recurring imagery: animals, darkness, evil/devil. • Define by example the terms tragedy and tragic hero. • Discuss the dramatic development of the play in terms of exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution. • Understand the Renaissance theory about chaos and the order of the Universe and apply it to the text.

4. And MORE Objectives!!! • Respond to multiple choice questions similar to those that will appear on the AP exam. • Respond to writing prompts similar to those that will appear on the AP exam • Offer a close reading of Othello and support all assertions and interpretations with direct evidence from the text • Demonstrate a literal, personal, interpretive, and critical understanding of the text.

5. Shakespeare and his times • Lived during the English Renaissance • Marriages were arranged • Women had a lower social status than men • Social position was a natural consequence of birth • The Crusades and explor- ations exposed the isolated English to races they didn’t know or understand. • Belief in “The Great Chain of Being”

6. “The Great Chain of Being” • There is a proper order to everything; every existing thing in the universe had its "place" in a divinely planned hierarchical order • When everything is in its proper position, there is harmony. • When the order is broken, everything is upset and everyone suffers.

7. Depictions of The Great Chain

8. Terms/Devices to Know

9. Terms to Know (Continued)

10. Dramatic Structure of a Tragedy • Revolve around the theme of disorder • Action moves as follows: exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, falling action and resolution • In a tragedy the play ends with the death of the tragic hero, who has spent the entire play trying to gain control of the conflict that he himself has created.

11. Tragic Hero • A good, noble man (god, demi-god, hero, high ranking official) falls from his high position to death and/or desolation. • Two equally powerful forces cause his fall: his hamartia (tragic flaw) ---some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error--- and fate • As a result of his hamartia, a reversal or plot twist results • The hero suddenly recognizes his/her own responsibility for that sudden change of fortune, called anagnorosis • Catharsis: The audience must so identify with the tragic hero that his fall causes the audience to feel pity (pathos)

12. Brief History of the Moors • Moors came from northern Africa, in what is now Morocco, once know as Mauretania. The Moors became Muslims very early in Islamic history. • In 711, these Islamic Moors conquered North Africa, Portugal and Spain for 700 years. • In 1492 the last Muslim stronghold surrendered to Christian Spain. • By 1502, remaining Muslims, known as moriscos, had been forced to leave Spain or to convert to Christianity.

13. More Moor History (Heh! Heh!) • Most of the expelled moriscos went to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia; others became pirates; yet others migrated to other countries in Europe and became Gypsies. • Othello, a Moor, is a descendant of these North-African/Spanish Muslims, whose ancestors had been recently exiled. This is why Othello finds himself in Venice, Italy.

14. Ideas to focus on in ACT I • Attitudes toward women • Character traits of Iago and Othello • Duties of a daughter • Brabantio's feelings about his daughter’s marriage • Reasons why Desdemona and Othello got married • Brabantio's objections to Othello as a son-in-law