Monday, Jan. 26
Othello, Acts 2 and 3
Today
Comments about Macbeth
 Great Chain of Being in Othello
 Peripeteia
 Dramatic irony
Break
 Objective correlatives
 Doing a close reading in pairs (Today’s Quiz)
 Questions on Othello
 Sonnet 130
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Lines relevant to Great Chain
What have YOU noticed? – just in actions.
 Interior: 2.3.218
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Othello:“Now by heaven
My blood begins my safer passions to rule
And passion, having my best judgment collied,
Assays to lead the way”
Male-female-military 2.3.332-3
Iago: “Our general’s wife is now the general”
Iago later 3.3.268 on
Peripeteia
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Reversal for Brabantio when he goes to
the Senate
Dramatic Irony
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Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of
the characters of a work of literature have a
different meaning for the reader than they do
for the characters. This is the result of the
reader having a greater knowledge than the
characters themselves.
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Examples?
3.1.45 Cassio “I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest.”
Desdemona: 3.3.5: “O that’s an honest fellow”
Othello: 3.3.140+
Iago 3.3.147 “Men should be what they seem”
Iago 3.3.246+ “I humbly do beseech you of your pardon;
For too much loving you.”
Objective correlatives
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T.S. Eliot’s idea of an “artistic
mechanism whereby emotion is
evoked in the audience”
Questions about Othello
1. Could you interpret Othello as a feminist text?
2. What makes Othello a tragic figure? Is his
tragedy self-inflicted or beyond his control?
Does he have a tragic flaw? (hamartia – “notion
of missing the mark, includes accident and
mistake,as well as wrongdoing, error, or sin”)
3. How does Othello change in the course of the
play? Can you see change in language and
behavior?
4. Is Iago a credible character? Or is he so evil
that he defies belief?What flaws in Roderigo,
Cassio, and Othello does he use?
More Questions
5. How does Emelia help us to understand Othello
and Desdemona? Is she a foil to Desdemona?
6. Are the minor characters (Bianca, Brabantio,
etc.) keys to the story?
7. Can you see a Venice/Cyprus split in values?
8. How is Desdemona's handkerchief used
dramatically and symbolically?
9. How does Iago direct scenes and direct them to
be misread?
10. How would YOU direct this play in terms of
costume, lighting, acting?
For Wednesday
Try to finish Othello
 Take ONE of the previous questions and
be prepared to answer it.
 We’ll do more on close-reading and on
 Tragedy
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