Erin Wilcox Literature Webquest – William Shakespeare’s “Othello” – Comparing Iago’s Character with Modern, Fictional Villains Ninth Grade EDU 505

Introduction - Iago and the Role of Villains in Literature and Media Iago is considered one of the most infamous villains ever by many literary scholars because of his manipulative and cunning nature, and his ability to appear to be Othello’s friend when he is really leading him toward his destruction. In the time since William Shakespeare composed “Othello”, there have been many other villains in books, movies, television shows, and so forth that have very similar characteristics to this famous ‘bad guy.’ During the activity we will be doing today, you will be exploring what aspects of a character makes them a true ‘villain’ and explore how villains can be different and similar to one another, even if they are from very different stories.

Task – Comparing and Contrasting Iago from “Othello” with other, later Villains. For your task in this Webquest, as mentioned briefly in the Introduction, you will be doing an activity with a partner where you will compare and contrast Iago’s character with a villain from another story, a movie, TV show, and so forth. The steps of this activity will be covered in the next page (“Process”) which will outline what you will be doing during this activity. Remember, this activity shouldn’t be all about getting a good grade! I want you all to be creative and think deeply about the choice you make for the second villain. I’m sure you’ll all think of very interesting comparisons you can make!

Process – Making the Comparison For this webquest activity, each pair will be given a piece of poster paper that you will be using to make a large display of your shared discussion and comparison. You can organize the poster in whatever way you want; you can divide it into four squares, two for each character, and talk about how they are similar and different from one another, create a Venn Diagram (two circles that interconnect) to show where characteristics of the villains overlap, and so forth. This activity is meant to show you how different motifs (in this case, the characteristics of a villain) can be reused throughout time and within different works. It will also show you how these characters are constructed so that they make largest impact on their readers or viewers. You may all remember a certain villain from a movie or book that frightened you when you were younger that you can use in this activity. Once you and your partner had decided on a villain you think you can use and make a good comparison with, please raise your hands so I can come over and approve your choice. I want to make sure that you chose a character you’re both familiar with so that you can make the most from this activity.

Process – Making the Comparison (Continued) You should feel free too to illustrate your poster and make it visually appealing; you will have access to markers and other drawing utensils, along with the computers if you want to print out a few images of the villain you are using and an interpretation of Iago (and there are a lot of them to chose from there). Make sure that you show at least three similarities and three differences in how the villain you chose compares with Iago, whether it’s something about their character or something specific they do. For instance, both villains may be manipulative, but deceive the other characters in different ways.

Resources Here are some websites you can use to look at some other well-known villains if you’re a bit stuck on who to chose for your comparison. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/famous-villains.html http://www.disneyvillains.net/ (Let’s face it, Disney has some pretty creepy villains!) http://www.listal.com/list/listals-50-movie-villains- would

Evaluation You will be graded on the poster that you create, with a grade out of 100. I will be grading you on meeting the requirements (three similarities and three differences between the villains) as well as the creative elements that you added to it (images, illustrations, and so forth). Your artistic ability is not being graded here, I just want all of you to try your best in making this presentation interesting since they are going to be displayed up on the wall for all of my other classes to see.

Conclusion This Webquest will have taught you how the characters of villains are constructed in stories and media, and show you why they are so important to the story. Villains, in part, can be unsettling and frightening to viewers and readers because they still have other human aspects to them, and reflect on the inherently evil nature that all humans are born with. Though most people will never do anything truly ‘evil’ in their lives, they represent the eerie potential that’s still there. But, we will be exploring more of the ‘make-up’ of villains in a future Webquest; this activity is meant to be an introduction into seeing how these characters operate (their reasoning for what they do, why they may be evil, etc.)

Teacher Implementation This activity is meant to be an introduction into talking about “Othello”, starting with Iago and why his character is so important. He is arguably the most important character in the play, because his actions shape why everything happens the way it does, and it is argued that his character is essentially the basis for all fictional villains that have come along since Shakespeare’s time. This Webquest can easily be modified for other literary villains as well; I’ve simply taken a rather infamous and classical one for the activity, but since it is more of a fun and exploratory introductory activity, it can be modified to revolve around villains of other pieces of literature.