Renaissance

How Shakespeare sets Venice against Cyprus, and what that contrast does to the marriage of Othello and Desdemona.

An excerpt on what made a marriage valid in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and on wedding customs.

Directions and questions for a class research project on Venice, social class, geography, marriage, and key terms.

How new wealth reshaped class in Renaissance Italy, and how slavery fit into that world.

Definitions of Moor, ancient, lieutenant, Cyprus, Venice, and other terms that students need for the play.

Outline notes on Venice as a sea power, a trading city, and a republic.