Genre and structure

Question 1

conventions of Greek tragedy

Answer 1

• downfall of high-ranking characters
• strong element of fate determining outcome - ‘Desdemona’ meaning ‘ill-starred’
• at the end justice and order are restored and a new status quo is established
• tragedy should evoke pathos and eleos in audiences, and catharisis should take place in order to make the audience, and the world, a better place (political function of tragedy (cheers Aristotle))

Question 2

conventions of comedy used that Jacobean audiences may recognise

Answer 2

• cuckolded husband
• idea of outwitting
• Baptista and Bianca from Taming of the Shrew strikingly similar to Brabantio and Desdemona: deceived father and deceptive daughter trope.

Question 3

chorus in Greek tragedy

Answer 3

group of characters who represent the ordinary people in their attitudes to the action. they witness and comment on events, but do not participate in them (Lodovico, Gratiano Emilia?)

Question 4

conflict and suffering in tragedy

Answer 4

• characters in all of Shakespeare’s tragedies find themselves embroiled in disputes with one and other, leading to disorder and division and the suffering of the tragic protagonist
• Shakespeare presents audiences with a different kind of conflict seen in other plays like King Lear: the conflict we witness is in Othello’s mind.
• Othello becomes divided against himself, conflicted about whether he hates or loves Desdemona
• conflict leads to violent deaths of both Desdemona and Othello

Question 5

Othello as a highly original tragedy

Answer 5

(ironic that he stole plot from Cinthio but still)
- Shakespeare presents the first Black hero in English drama, departing from theatrical convention
- subverts tragic conventions by keeping the villain alive at the end of the play (usually this villain dies as part of the cathartic process so that justice and order is restored – is justice really restored?)
- Iago’s dominance in this tragedy is unusual; the villain and the hero have equal stage time and are equally powerful speakers.

Question 6

domestic tragedy vs classical tragedy

Answer 6

DOMESTIC:
- protagonists are ordinary middle-class individuals
- domestic feud rather than political affairs
CLASSICAL:
- central character is a king or of a noble rank
- downfall is not just a personal matter, but also an affair of state with consequences for the whole nation he rules

Question 7

use of settings

Answer 7

• there is a narrow focus in Othello as two primary locations are intitially used (Cyrpus and Venice)
• gradually our attention becomes fixed on a single bedroom, creating a distinct feeling of claustrophobia
• the outer world becomes insignficant as Othello grows obsessive and jealous
• at the end of the 16th century, dramatists began to use Italy as a suitable location for revenge tragedies; Italians were thought to be worldly and Venice in particular was associated with cultural sophistication.

Question 8

sense of claustrophobia so integral to the play

Answer 8

• heighetened by the fact that there are no real sub-plots in Othello (Sanders)
• even the characters who seems to have their own ‘lives’ are closely linked to the married couple in some way (Rodorigo’s obsession with Desdemona and Cassio’s relationship with Bianca providing a parallel to the Othello-Desdemona relationship)
• our sense of claustrophobia is heightened because we are observing a group of characters who exist in a tightly-knit social network
• we are never really given a moment’s respite to look away from iago’s progress as he pushes Othello towards tragedy.

Question 9

Long and short scenes

Answer 9

• long scenes of painful discussions and confrontation are punctuated by short scenes or moments of violence
• Act3sc3 as a good example of how the dramatist structures a scene for maximum theatrical impact: it is the longest scene in the play and is painful to watch
• Iago relentlessly manipulates Othello, leaving only when he knows he has successfully hooked Othello
• from line 331 to