Othello Research Paper Topics
 Choose one of the below topics for your research paper.
 As we read the rest of Othello, keep your topic in mind, taking notes on each act with
a focus on the topic you have chosen. (Be sure to return to Acts I and II as well.)
 Thus, you are preparing your research paper as we read.
 After we complete Othello, you will read 2 sources which will be the research for
your paper.
 Then, we will begin work on the papers. Work will be completed (mostly) in class.
1. Gender Issues
Consider the gender of the characters in Othello. How are the female characters portrayed?
How are they different from one another? How do the male characters treat them? How does
gender influence the choices that are available to the female characters and the decisions that
they make? Pay close attention to how the male characters classify women and how the
female characters challenge (or not) those assumptions. Write a paper that focuses on the
female characters and explores how gender affects the plot and character development in the
play.
Gayle Green: ‘This that you call love’: Sexual and Social Tragedy in Othello
2. Morally ambiguous characters: Emilia
Morally ambiguous characters--- characters whose behavior discourages readers from
identifying them as purely evil or purely good -- are at the heart of many works of literature.
Emilia can be considered a morally ambiguous character who plays a pivotal role in Othello.
Trace the development of Emilia’s character throughout the play. How does her character
change during the course of the play? Pay close attention to moments when Emilia decides
to be silent and when she decides to speak. Write an essay in which you focus on Emilia’s
character: how can she be viewed as morally ambiguous? Is she redeemed at the end?
Carol Thomas Neely: Men and Women in Othello
3. Iago and Othello
What is the nature of this relationship? What motivates Iago to do what he does? What about
Othello? Why is he so easily manipulated by Iago? Trace the relationship between Iago and
Othello in the play. How does it develop? How does it change over the course of the play?
How does language play a role? Pay close attention to scenes when Iago and Othello are
alone. Write a paper in which you focus on the development of the relationship between
these two characters.
Robert Pack: Incredulity and the Possible
4. Iago: psychopath? Pure evil? Or something more?
Is Iago a psychopath? Is he simply “Evil” or is there more to him? Does he have a motive or
motives for his hatred of Othello? How does Iago’s opinions of women play a role in the
development of his character? Pay close attention to Iago’s soliloquies as well as the
language/strategies he uses to manipulate other characters. Why does he refuse to speak
at the end? Write an essay in which you focus on Iago’s character and consider the questions
above.
Daniel Stempel: Silence of Iago
Fred West: Iago the Psychopath
Scott O. Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz: What “Psychopath” Means (Scientific American)
5. The mind of Othello
According to critic Northop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest point in their
human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great
trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course
be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning.” Is Othello a tragic hero? A victim?
A villain? Trace the development of Othello’s character throughout the play. Pay close
attention to Othello’s soliloquies and statements in the final scene of play. Why is he so
easily swayed by Iago? If he has a tragic flaw, what is it? What responsibility does he bear
for his own tragic fall and death? Write an essay in which you focus on Othello’s character
and consider the questions above.
Carol McGinnis Kay: Othello’s Need for Mirrors
6. Persuasion and the manipulation of truth: Extending Othello’s themes to our world
today.
Iago is a master of manipulation and rhetoric (ethos, logos, pathos). Where is rhetoric used
to manipulate truth or our actions today? Note Iago’s use of manipulation and extend this
theme to explore a controversial issue in society/culture today. See me for topic and source
approval and use the “Opposing Viewpoints” SHS library database for sources.
STEP I. MVP
10 points
Due: ____________________________________
To prepare for your paper, please do the following:
For each act, please handwrite or type:
1. Act number (perhaps create a title for the act)
2. Two M.V.P.’s (Most Valuable Passages): Copy and quote at least two passages from
the act that are significant to your chosen topic. Paraphrase each quote. Then make
an analytical comment:
 Make an inference from the text paraphrased
 Relay an insight about character, motivations, etc.
 Make an assumption about the past from the text
 Connect material in the quote to other quotes in the text to show an emerging
pattern, theme, or to strengthen an argument: begin thinking about your
research topic
Review the following examples to help you better understand what makes for a better entry…
“Bad” Example
QUOTE
PARAPHRASE
Roderigo: “What a full
fortune does the [thick lips]
owe/If he can carry’t
thus…”( I. i. 72-73)
If he can pull this off,
(appointing Cassio as his
ancient and marrying
Desdemona), O is lucky
indeed
ANALYTICAL
COMMENT
It would be an amazing feat
if Cassio proved to be a
good lieutenant
“Good” Example
QUOTE
PARAPHRASE
Roderigo: “What a full
fortune does the [thick lips]
owe/If he can carry’t
thus…”( I. i. 72-73)
If he can pull this off,
(appointing Cassio as his
ancient and marrying
Desdemona), O is lucky
indeed
ANALYTICAL
COMMENT
Even Roderigo is racist.
“Thick lips” is an insult
aimed at Othello’s race
Grading: Notes will be worth 2 points for each act of the play. That is, a total of 10
points can be earned.