Big Ideas Othello

Question 1

Inevitable downfall of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage.

Answer 1

• Ultimately, the tragedy is that Othello and Desdemona’s optimistic desire for a world in which all races and genders can achieve autonomy is destroyed by forces that wish to maintain the status quo.
• This is a play about racism and misogyny; but it is also about the failure of the individual to combat oppression.

Question 2

Othello and Racism

Answer 2

• Othello’s assertion of nobility and integrity during the exposition is admirable; through his eloquent speeches, Shakespeare challenges contemporary racist stereotypes.
• However, Shakespeare also uses Othello to demonstrate the power of such ideologies; Othello’s racial identity makes him vulnerable to lago’s schemes, and as he internalises preconceptions of his identity he is shaped into the very stereotype he refuted in Act 1.

Question 3

Iago and Manipulation

Answer 3

• lago is the quintessence of prejudice and discontent; not only does he rail against anyone who is an outsider, but he also attempts to manipulate them to their downfall. - His character is used to demonstrate mankind’s capacity for evil, something made all the more unsettling when it is set in the context of lago’s apparent amorality.

Question 4

Desdemona as a woman

Answer 4

• Initially Desdemona provides a glimmer of hope for women; her outspoken nature and her determination to make her own choices shows that women can have agency.
• However, ultimately the play suggests that female empowerment is not possible within Renaissance society.

Question 5

Emilia and feminism

Answer 5

• Emilia’s development as a character is the mirror image of Desdemona’s trajectory; as Desdemona becomes increasingly passive, Emilia finds her voice.
• Yet both women face the same fate: death at the hands of their husbands.
• Within the patriarchal world of the play, women who attempt to assert their views find themselves literally silenced.

Question 6

Bianca, Desdemona and survival

Answer 6

• The parallels between Bianca and Desdemona suggest that an individual’s fate is purely an accident of birth.
• Shakespeare also uses Bianca’s character to suggest that survival is dependent on treading a fine line between maintaining one’s integrity and being worldly-wise.

Question 7

Cassio’s journey

Answer 7

• Cassio’s character demonstrates that it is possible to maintain one’s integrity and morality, even in the face of being reduced to a debased pawn.
• He becomes a voice of reason and order at the play’s denouement.

Question 8

Lodovico

Answer 8

Lodovico is a voice of reason, and also provides a moral commentary, highlighting the dramatic shifts in Othello’s character.

Question 9

Brabantio as Venice

Answer 9

Brabantio symbolises the traditional values of Venice, and is therefore an embodiment of reprehensible racism and prejudice, as well as of the patriarchy.

Question 10

Roderigo and Venice

Answer 10

Roderigo symbolises the myopic materialism and lust of Venice.