Othello Themes

What themes are you all looking at? And any good quotes to go with them?

Reply 1

What i've done is studied the individual characters individually and picked out key accompayaning quotes. eg-Desdemona - "alas she has no speech" and "nobody , i myself , comend me to my lord".

In terms of themes. I've considered : war , love , jealously , incompatabilty of military and love , isolation. etc

Has anyone got any predictions for what might come up?

Reply 2

genie_jo

Not a clue whats gona come up - could be anything really!
Hmm am definately not lookin forward to this exam!

I've mainly learnt quotes to go with characters rather than themes; my themes are race, reputation, love / relationships, jealousy, war, witchcraft...think those are the main ones.

How do u guys plan to structure your essays??

Reply 3

Aplin

I thought Othello was over?

Reply 4

LizzyLizzy

no , not for specification A , it is for spec B

Reply 5

becke

I am mostly going to concentrate on
jealousy (you can get this in most questions) - Othello's tragic change from a noble man to a unheathly jealous whatever you wish to call it! bianca's jealousy and most importantly Iago's jealousy and how it has no base.
black/white (racial issues) in how othello in the beginning belives his colour has nothing to do with his marriage, 'she had eyes and chose me' however Iago plays upon this clear weakness in society and causes Othello to reevaluate his previous assumptions and he then claims, 'for i am black and declining' and firmly believes his colour and age are the reasons Desdemona is being unfaithful.
Animal imagery theres an awful lot of of course and are important to the context of the situations,iago's descriptions of othello as a 'black ram' and desdemona as a 'white ewe'
man/woman differences you can include here how iago's word is taken above desdemona's even though she is his wife, and iago is at the beginning of the manipulation a mere collegue. Iago's unhealthy talk of women as 'wild cats in the kitchens' and his treatement of Bianca when she comes to find Cassio, right after Cassio has been stabbed and Iago's treatment of Emilia.
Dramatic irony, this is a massive part of the play, as most of the main bits have a great sense of dramatic irony. Emilia is silenced throughout the play, and she is the charachter whom in the end finally silences Iago. Othello's nobleness is in dramatic contrast to the weak character we see at the end, Iago's language towards the characters compared to how he describes them in his siloques.
Hope this helps! my spelling is rather dreadful!

Reply 6

Rose64

Something I posted on another thread:

I don't think themes are really the best way to go with Othello.. it is old Shakey's 'domestic play' afterall, so doesn't have that many wider themes which are vital when studying it. One recent exam q stated "Othello is a play without meaning and that is the true horror of it" or something along those lines! There are definitely a few themes - collision of cultures, pride etc. but most of these should be considered in the context of the characters themselves rather than as seperate greater themes. eg, Iago's pride, Othello's status as the Moorish outsider. Characters, the relationship between them and language (language is the action of the play) are the most important basic aspects of the play, I reckons.

Reply 7

Endymion

Rose64

Something I posted on another thread:

I don't think themes are really the best way to go with Othello..

I wholeheartedly agree. Although most teachers tend to scrutinize upon the themes in Othello, the questions that exam boards tend to set (particularly AQA) address far wider issues, that can't be pinned down by themes. Subsequently, students try to answer the question thematically and often tend to veer away from the question in hand, by trying to cram in all the information they've learnt regardless of relevance. By all means look at the themes that are present in Othello, but instead try to concentrate on the interrelation between those themes and the characters in question.

Reply 8

Endymion

Oh and another thing, download the sample question and answer papers from your exam board's website, if you haven't already done so, and see what the examiners will be looking for in an ideal answer. Although the questions change each year, the logic of an answer doesn't.

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