Othello

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read Act 1.1 of Othello. They should also have completed the corresponding study questions.

Activities:

• A. Discuss 1.1 of Othello. Use the following questions to direct discussion and my answers to evaluate that discussion. The numbers in parentheses indicate line numbers at which the appropriate text may be reviewed and read aloud. Please indicate how far you get in each class.

  • 1. How does Iago contrast himself with Cassio? What universal opposition does that contrast suggest?

    Iago describes Cassio as a scholar and a theoretician, inexperienced in practical matters while he portrays himself as a tested warrior, a man of action.

    He asserts such archetypal oppositions as those between reason and spirit, force and thought, theory and practice, and the like.

  • 2. What do you expect when you hear Iago say, “In following him, I follow but myself”? (58) What do you expect when you hear him say, “I am not what I am”? (65)

    This is an OPEN QUESTION. However, the students should expect that Iago will be scheming to achieve his own means, probably to overthrow Cassio, perhaps to revenge himself upon Othello. The second quotation points to his modus operandi: deception.

  • 3. What may you conclude when you contrast lines 96 - 98 with line 173?

    In the former lines, Brabantio makes clear that he does not approve of Roderigo’s suit for Desdemona’s hand. Yet, in the latter line he wishes that Desdemona had married Roderigo instead of Othello. From this change of attitude, we may conclude that Brabantio finds the Moor even more distasteful than the dandy. Whether this disapproval springs from the fact of Othello’s being a foreigner or a Negro, or - perhaps - because he eloped with Desdemona is up to the students to discuss.

  • 4. What kinds of images does Iago use in referring to Othello? What does he give Brabantio as his principal reason for not expecting the Duke to exile Othello?

    Iago refers to Othello as “the thick-lips” [66] (a racial slur) and as “an old black ram” [88]. Then in lines 110 - 111, he compares Othello to a “Barbary horse” begetting animals upon Desdemona. In short, he uses beast imagery to characterize Othello, reducing the great warrior to a rutting animal. The imagery is always overtly sexual as well.

Assignment for next class meeting: Read Act 1.2 of Othello. Complete the corresponding study questions.