Othello A-level context

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othello as a ‘moor’ and what that means in relationship to the Ottoman Empire. This links really well to society at the time so when analysing I would use this context when comparing Othello’s race to the other characters and say how it’s reflected through the Elizabethan’s audience that’s watching the play

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Bridging off that, queen elizabeth I was also against the idea of immigration and states “Her Majesty understanding that several blackamoors have lately been brought into this realm, of which kind of people there are already too many here . . . her Majesty’s pleasure therefore is that those kind of people should be expelled from the land.” - picking out a couple quotations here could work and also link to the audience and Shakespeares decision to purposely make Othello black which would’ve been quite surprising.

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There’s also Revenge Tragedies - this genre of theatre stemmed from Ancient Greece, Seneca had adapted it and used Revenge as a main plot point which made helped purge more catharsis. There are a couple features from this type of theatre that you can see in Othello; Machiavellian Villains (originates from Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ - a villain who manipulated others to gain power), so Iago, as well as soliloquies which help advance the plot and give us insight to Iago’s motives.

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Morality Plays can also be seen in Othello, this is where the protagonist / central characters embody society to face spiritual and moral challenges and usually succumb to temptation (othello) which can reflect the bible. They usually also use juxtaposing ideas of ‘vice and virtue’ which can be seen in othello and iago.

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The Commandments; the 5th commandment talks about respecting parents which can link to Desdemona and how she goes against Brabantio to elope, the 6th talks about not murdering or suicide ‘self-slaughter’, the 7th talks about adultery, at the time young men would partake in pre-martial sex whereas if women were to do the same they would be severely punished, more so than men, the 8th, 9th and 10th talk about stealing, lying and envy all of which we see iago indulge in, so his blatant disregard of the commandments would have the audience question his character and also build up an unheimlich and discordant atmosphere about him.

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Religion is an interesting one when you look at some of the things the characters say, especially at the end and how Othello talks about religion - you could argue about how the characters actually use religion almost like a shield but they still sin, Emilia at the end cursing othello and the hellish imagery he says is really interesting to talk about in regards to that. I would also try mentioning the ideas of heaven, purgatory, and hell — Emilia’s says “to make him a monarch, I would venture purgatory for’t” act 4 scene 3? Which you could dissect in an answer. The idea of purgatory being a place where souls aren’t pure enough to go to heaven but don’t go to hell could link to Othello’s death at the end and how all the hellish imagery could say that he’d go to hell for his sins and killing his wife.