 Othello is a Moor—an African American  He falls in love with Desdemona—a Venetian, an Italian  This is the 1500s—very daring for Shakespeare!  What are your feelings about a black character being the protagonist?  What are your feelings about this plot concerning an interracial marriage?  What are your feelings about racial slurs?

 Othello—General of the Venetian Army  Desdemona--Othello’s Love  Brabantio—Desdemona’s father  Iago—Othello’s best friend/soldier  Cassio—Othello’s friend/soldier/player  Duke of Venice  Roderigo—loves Desdemona (same nationality)  Emilia—Iago’s wife  Who is the protagonist? Othello? Desdemona? Iago? Whose story is it?

 Cursing: ‘Sblood—God’s Blood  “damned in a fair wife”—Italian proverb “You have married a fair (beautiful) wife? You are damned.” Why?  Antimetabole: “We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly followed.” Why?  “ I am not what I am.” What does that mean? Re-occurring them in all Shakespeare Plays: Appearances are deceiving. Where have you seen it in Romeo and Juliet? Julius Caesar?

 Racial slur: “thick-lips”  Archaic Language: “ What ho” Who remembers what hie ho was from R&J?  Acceptable Curse word: “Zounds” What curse words have we altered to make them acceptable?  Racial Slur: “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”  Racial Slur: “barbary horse”  Sexual innuendo “the beast with two backs” “lascivious Moor” “Oh, would you had had her” Why so base (vulgar)?

 Iago: The Doppleganger. What do you see?  Racial Slur: “Sooty bosom” Why sooty?  Characterization of Duke’ leadership? Why?  Anaphora: “What drugs, what charms, what conjuration and what mighty magic”  Line Rhymes Why?  Lines Prose Why?

 Pg  Apocope: the end. Write examples.  Syncope: middle Write examples  Aphaeresis: beginning Write examples  Antiphrasis: Given a name for the opposite.  Honest Iago

 Archaic: Cuckold: (kŭk' ə ld) husband whose wife is unfaithful  Origin– Cuckoo The female of some Old World cuckoos lays its eggs in the nests of other birds  Horns of a cuckold--the community would gather to collectively humiliate a man whose wife gives birth to a child recognizably not his own. According to this legend, a parade was held in which the hapless husband is forced to wear antlers on his head as a symbol of his wife's infidelity.

 Parallel Setting: Storm/War—Iago’s evil is put into motion.  Unit Theme: Green Eyed Monster What have you seen so far?  Aside: Other characters on stage; speaks to audience and they pretend not to hear. 2 purposes: humor or foreshadow What does Iago reveal of his plan in his aside?  E’er: Which one? Aphaeresis, Syncope, or Apocope?

 “What an eye she has”—What does this mean?  The perils of drinking—Does Cassio want to drink? How does Othello manipulate him? How does he involve Montano in the plot?  Brawl—what is the plan?  “Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?” How is this ironic?

 Comic Relief: Clown  Pun: “Thereby hangs a tail” “Whereby hangs a tale?”  What is he talking about?  Kitch: vulgar, gaudy, trash Go deep—How is a wind instrument in a “Pun” when you are talking about tails?  How does Iago involve the Clown in the Web?

 “I have been talking with a suitor here.”  Ambiguity  Someone who wants something from you.  Someone who is seeking to further a romantic relationship with you.  Appearances are deceiving them appears again: “Men should be what they seem.”  Coined phrase: first to use it– “It is the green-eyed monster” jealousy

 What is the literary term for a trait that causes a downfall?  Hamartia  Othello’s hamartia: “I had rather be a toad and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others’ uses.” What does that mean?  Cuckold: “I have a pain upon my forehead here.” Significance?  Iago calls his wife a “wench”:1. a female servant; 2. a lewd woman : prostitute

 What does he ask Emilia to give him?  “If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster (sleep together)” He must see it with his own eyes.  Handkerchief: “But such a handkerchief—I am sure it was your wife’s—did I today see Cassio wipe his beard with.”  “I see ‘tis true.”  “She dying gave it me, And bid me, when my fate would have me wive, to give it her.”  To whom does Cassio give the handkerchief?

 What are Othello’s plans to kill Desdemona?  Metaphor: “When I plucked the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again, it needs must wither.”  “I kissed thee ere I killed thee.”  Metaphor: “When I plucked the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again, it needs must wither.”  Know everyone who dies, how, and by whom?