1. OTHELLO

2. Teammates ： 曾冬兰 201101024102 张伊瑶 201101024109 刘楚涵 201101024113 朱玉娇 201101024118 何韵嫦 201101024121 杨彩怡 201101024132 任舜 201101024104

3. Background Information of Othello

4. History of the Moors During the 7th Century,Arab armies swept across Northern Africa, conquering those in their way.

5. After concevting many of these people to Islam, they joined forces in the 8th Century to conquer Spain. In spain, the Arabs that intermarried with the Spanish became known as "Moors".

6. Some Moors converted to Christianity while in Spain, and remained in the country.There Moors were known as "Moriscos", of which the main character of the play, Othello,belongs.

7. Moorish beliefs about Women Strict culture -- women are not allowed to commit adultery. To do so means instant death.

8. Europeans believed that a women who committed adultery should be banished. These women were often forced into prostitution to survive, but they were not killed for committing adultery.

9. The English believed that "blackness" meant moral corruption.Whiteness equaled purity and blackness indicated sin.

10. In 1601,Queen Elizabeth deported all Moors, saying that letting them stay in England might "overpopulate" the country.

11. Elizabethans considered dark- skinned peope to be "bestial" forces,dangeous because of their sexuality,temper and magical powers.

12. The summary of Othello This drama is one of the great tragedy themed plays by William Shakespeare, Othello is a highly esteemed general in the service of Venice. Iago is Othello's ambitious friend.Othello promotes the Michael Cassio to the position of personal lieutenant and Iago is deadly jealous. Iago begins an evil and mail cious campaign against the hero.

13. Othello elopes with Desdemona but Iago starts to plot against them. Othello becomes jealous and suspicious of Desdemona. He confides in Iago that he plans to poison Desdemona. Plots and murders ensue and Othello returns to the castle to kill his innocent wife. He eventually smothers her to death. Emilia tells Othello the truth about the scheming Iago. Othello wounds Iago, then kills himself. Iago kills Emilia.

14. Othello : Othello is of royal lineage.He was captures, turned into a slave by the Spanish and Italians, then later won his freedom and became a tremendous general. Charateristic of Othello

15. Othello knows nothing but violence.He has little formal education.Everything he knows involves the battlefield. Moors were treated much like the Jews who became new Christians, "regarded with suspicion as a false Christian". Soeven though he has converted to a religion practiced by those he associates with, he is still distrusted.

16. Desdemona : Othello's wife and also the daughter of an Italian nobleman. Desdemona is fair,apparently quite pure, and apparently quite innocent.There is a debate whether she is naive.

17. Iago: Iago is twenty-eight years old. While his ostensible reason for desiring Othello’s demise is that he has been passed over for promotion to lieutenant, Iago’s motivations are never very clearly expressed and seem to originate in an obsessive, almost delight in manipulation and destruction.

18. Cassio: Othello’s lieutenant. Cassio is a young and inexperienced soldier, whose high position is much resented by Iago. Truly devoted to Othello, Cassio is extremely ashamed after being implicated in a drunken brawl on Cyprus and losing his place as lieutenant.

19. Emilia : Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s attendant. A cynical, worldly woman, she is deeply attached to her mistress and distrustful of her husband.

20. Roderigo: A jealous suitor of Desdemona. Young, rich, and foolish, Roderigo is convinced that if he gives Iago all of his money, Iago will help him win Desdemona’s hand.

21. Bianca: A hooker who is another pawn in Iago's game.She is Cassio's mistress and because she is of low social status, is an easy teaget.

22. Brabantio: Desdemona’s father, a somewhat blustering and self- important Venetian senator. As a friend of Othello, Brabanzio feels betrayed when the general marries his daughter in secret.

23. Major Themes of Othello Theme 1 : Race

24. Shakespeare’s Othello is a Moor, a black man - indeed, one of the first black heroes in English literature. The play deals with interracial marriage. Others have a problem with it, but Othello and Desdemona are happily in love. Othello holds an important position of power and influence. He has been accepted into Venetian society based on his bravery as a soldier.

25. Othello’s race is an issue for Iago and Brabanzio but as an audience we are rooting for Othello, Shakespeare’s celebration of Othello as a black man is ahead of its time, the play encourages the audience to side with him and take against the white man who is mocking him just because of his race.

26. Theme 2 : Jealousy

27. The story of Othello is propelled by feelings of intense jealousy. All of the action and consequences that unfold are the result of jealousy. Iago is jealous of Cassio’s appointment as lieutenant over him, he also believes that Othello has had an affair with Emilia, his wife, and harbours plans for revenge on him as a result.

28. Iago also appears to be envious of Othello’s standing in Venetian society; despite his race, he has been celebrated and accepted in society. Desdemona’s acceptance of Othello as a worthy husband demonstrates this and this acceptance is due to Othello’s valour as a soldier, Iago is envious of Othello’s position.

29. Theme 3 : Duplicity

30. Unfortunately for Othello, the man who he trusts in the play, Iago, is not what he seems he is scheming, duplicitous and has a deep malevolent loathing for his master. Othello is made to believe that Cassio and Desdemona are the duplicitous ones. This mistake of judgement leads to his downfall.

31. Iago’s treatment of Roderigo is also duplicitous, treating him as a friend or at least a comrade with a common goal, only to kill him in order to cover up his own guilt. Fortunately, Roderigo was more savvy to Iago’s duplicity than he knew, hence the letters exposing him.

32. Emilia could be accused of duplicity in exposing her own husband. However, this endears her to the audience and demonstrates her honesty in that she has discovered her husband’s wrongdoings and is so outraged that she exposes him.

33. Thank you.