OTHELLO – REVISION QUESTION #1

READ ‘TO EMILIA SOME OF YOUR FUNCTION….ALAS, WHAT IGNORANT SIN HAVE I COMMITTED? How does Shakespeare presents aspects of love in this passage? Examine the view that, in this passage and elsewhere in the play, Othello is presented as ‘so noble, a he inspires a passion of mingled love and pity’ (A.C Bradley 1904) Pity = Feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the suffering and misfortune of others Noble = Showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles

THE PASSAGE Where does this extract come in the play. What is immediately before it? In which Act does it occur? What happens in this act in terms of the five –act structure? Identify key quotes in the passage Look for opportunities to integrate contextual understanding and typicality Look for opportunities to integrate understanding of the ways meaning is created Does the passage support or refute the statement. Plan how you will use it to start your argument

CAN HE BE PITIED? Why may a contemporary audience pity him? His believes that he had been cuckolded; he is told this by ‘honest Iago’; he is a black outsider unfamiliar with Venetian culture; awareness of the purity of Desdemona’s love and his misjudgement Why may a modern audience pity him? His position as a black man and an outsider; our post-colonial reading of the play recognises his vulnerability Why may audiences across time pity him? Iago is constructed as the villain and it is his cruel deception which brings about Othello’s fall Genre of tragedy requires a tragic hero who is flawed and has a reversal of fortunes – we were initially encouraged to admire and respect him; he is presented as noble in Act one

WHY HE SHOULDN’T BE PITIED Visual staging of his cruelty – it is tangible He vitriolic speech and aggressive language and grotesque imagery 21 st century gender equality and legislation to protect individuals from domestic violence His reversion to male comradeship and contemporary ideas of masculinity His insubstantial reasoning and proof His self-dramatizing and inadequate remorse in the final scene

PLANNING YOUR ARGUMENT – POSSIBLE MODEL (SHOULD BE USED FLEXIBLY) Intro (optional) see guidance from mock feedback slides Point one – passage Point two – passage Point three – rest of play Point four – rest of play Conclusion

AO2 - REMEMBER TO INCLUDE: Genre – tragic hero / harmartia / catharsis / five acts structure / compressed time frame (unity of time) / mostly takes place in Cyprus (unity of place) Setting Character foil Stage direction / soliloquy/ entrances and exits Dramatic irony Imagery - patterns Language and sentence structure - patterns

AO3: REMEMBER TO INCLUDE Attitudes about women Attitudes about Venetian women Fear of cuckoldry and ideas about masculinity Attitudes about race Attitudes about marriage Audiences today – viewing the play from a society where gender equality is protected by law, following first wave feminism (suffrage) and second wave feminism (1970s), where violence against women is not tolerated, where racism is deplorable and a criminal offence.

AO4 – TYPICALITY. REMEMBER TO DISCUSS THIS. It only requires mentioning – most relevant when discussing AO3 context

QUOTES – YOU ARE AIMING FOR 15+