Othello Summer Assignment:
Cite answers with evidence from the text including Act, Scene, and Line
number in correct MLA citation. (Act. Scene. Line) Example (1.5.232)
translates to Act One, Scene Five, Lines Two Hundred Thirty-two.
Act I
The play opens with a dialogue between Iago and Roderigo about an unnamed third
person. What is the tone of their exchange?
What feeling is Iago expressing toward Cassio in this speech?
Scan the text for references that characters make to Othello without using his name.
(There are 13)
The first time Iago refers to the person he is angry with by any term of than the
pronoun he. What does his use of the phrase his Moorship suggest about his feelings
toward Othello, his commanding officer?
Why do Iago and Roderigo rush to Brabantio’s house?
Where is animal imagery taking place? When do references to blackness occur. Who
says it?
What long speeches take place in scene 2? Who is being accused? Who is Brabantio?
In Scene 3 examine Othello and Desdemona’s speeches. How do they differ from
speeches made in Scene 2? (tone, mood, language)
If you were acting out Othello’s speech, what gestures and behaviors would you use
to convey the tone and attitude of the speaker?
Who is left with Desdemona’s care? Where does she go?
What tensions are resolved in this scene? What tensions are still developing?
Look at your Literary Terms definitions. List and cite any examples of literary terms
you can find in this act.
Define the following words:
1. Obsequious
8. Facile
2. Vexation
9. Imminent
3. Timorous
10. Iniquity
4. Civility
5. Grievance
6. Promulgate
7. Palpable
Cite answers with evidence from the text including Act, Scene, and Line number in
correct MLA citation. (Act. Scene. Line)
Act II
How does the setting change from Act 1 to Act II? What are some possible symbolic
meanings of this change?
How does Cassio speak of Desdemona before she arrives from Venice? What does
his greeting of her and Emelia reveal about his character?
Describe Iago’s view of women as he exresses them to Desdemona in Scene 1 ( lines
146-156). How does his language contrast with Cassio’s when Cassio speaks of
Desdemona (lines 61-65 and 74-82)
Although Othello and Desdemonas reunion is joyful and passionate, the language of
the scene hints at other emotions in Othello. Which lines could foreshadow trouble?
What emotion does Iago play on to get Roderigo to provoke Cassio? What weakness
of Cassio’s does Iago take advantage of? What do these actions reveal about Iago and
his methods?
Iago often uses imagery of hell, darkness, disease, and traps when speaking of
himself and his plots. Find instances of such images in his soliloquy at the end of
Scene 3.
What do you think of Iago? Is he merely a stage villain, r are some people in the
world very much like him? Explain your answer.
Look at your literary terms definition list. List and cite any examples of literary
terms you can find in this act.
Define the following words:
1. discern
2. citadel
3. discreet
4. eminent
5. impediment
6. gnaw
7. ensue
8. barbarous
9. censure
10. inordinate
Cite answers with evidence from the text including Act, Scene, and Line number in
correct MLA citation. (Act. Scene. Line)
Act III
What do you think of Othello when he begins to doubt Desdemona’s faithfulness?
Scene 3 is often referred to as the temptation scene, in which Iago, like Satan,
misleads Othello. What are some of the techniques Iago uses to plant suspicion in
Othello’s mind?
What emotion does Iago warn Othello against? What irony do you sense in his
warning?
What contradictory feelings towards Desdemona does Othello express in Scene 3?
What contrasting images does Othello use to reveal his confusion?
In the course of Scene 3, Othello admires, trusts, doubts, makes demands of, and gets
angry of Iago. How would you describe the relationship between Othello and Iago in
the scene’s end?
Key themes of the play involve he passions of love and jealousy. Who besides
Othello shows jealousy of a loved one? What other forms of jealousy are displayed in
the play?
In Scene 3, what does Iago admit to Othello about himself that reveals the nature of
how our imaginations work?
In Scene 3, Iago’s metaphor compares jealousy to what? Why is this a fitting
description of a jealous person? What other figure of speech could you use to
describe this jealousy?
Compared to the way Brabantio acted in Act I, how does Othello come to his own
conclusions about Desdemona? What evidence does he base this on?
Look at your literary terms definition list. List and cite any examples of literary
terms you can find in this act.
Define the following words:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
procure
affinity
penitent
ruminate
inference
disposition
vehement
tranquil
9. compulsive
10. loathed
Cite answers with evidence from the text including Act, Scene, and Line number in
correct MLA citation. (Act. Scene. Line)
Act IV
What do you think of Othello by the end of Act IV? How has he changed?
In Scene 1, Othello falls into an epileptic trance and Iago repeatedly refers to illness
and madness. Find examples of these references. How do they emphasize and
explain the change in Othello?
In this act there is a noticeable increase in images of animals, especially in Othello’s
speech and in references to Othello. (Earlier in the play, animal imagery was usually
associated with Iago.) Find examples of this imagery in Act IV. What do these images
say about Othello’s state of mind?
How does Othello’s brutality toward Desdemona contrast with his behavior earlier
in the play?
How would you describe Othello’s state of mind in Scene 2, when he speaks to
Emilia and Desdemona in private how does he respond to Desdemona’s expressions
of innocence?
The scene between Desdemona, Emilia, and Iago after Othello has spoken so
brutally to his wife is full of dramatic irony. What does the audience know that thee
characters do not know?
In the final scene, how does Emilia function as a foil, or contrast, to Desdemona?
How do you feel toward Desdemona when she sings her sad song and when she asks
Emilia to shroud her in her wedding sheets?
Look at your literary terms definition list. List and cite any examples of literary
terms you can find in this act.
Define the following words:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
dotage
credulous
lethargy
beguile
importunes
breach
requite
8. impudent
9. shroud
10. peevish
Cite answers with evidence from the text including Act, Scene, and Line number in
correct MLA citation. (Act. Scene. Line)
Act V
Were you surprised by the “the tragic loading of this bed” that occurs by the end of
Act V? Which characters did you expect to die, and which did you expect to live?
Imagery of darkness and light pervade the play and especially the final act. Describe
the setting of Scene 1. What could this setting symbolize?
For what practical reason does Iago want Cassio dead? What additional
psychological motive does Iago reveal in Scene 1 for wanting to get rid of Cassio?
In trying ot cast suspicion for Roderigo’s death on Bianca, Iago uses a technique that
he has relied on throughout the play. What is it?
Find images of light and dark in Othello’s first speech in Scene 2 (lines 1-22) How do
these contradictory images work to show us Othello’s state of mind?
In Othello’s first speech he links the themes of love and death. This is especially
obvious in lines 13-15 and 18-22. What effect does this have?
What contrasting images does Emilia use to condemn Othello and praise
Desdemona when Othello confesses he has killed his wife?
Critics have debated whether or not Othello recovers his noble stature at the end of
the play, after he realizes that he has been duped by Iago and that his wife was
innocent. What did you think of Othello as he turned his sword upon himself?
Look at your literary terms definition list. List and cite any examples of literary
terms you can find in this act.
Define the following words:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
restitution
monumental
quench
portents
pernicious
amorous
viper
8. wrench
9. ensnared
10. interim