Othello Flashcards
Othello as a mediator
‘keep up your bright swords, for the few will rust them’
Othello doesn’t view violence as a solution.
Barbantio fails to provoke anger in Othello, in attempts to convince the senate that he is a worthy suitor for Desdemona, Othello speaks in a measured metre to assert himself.
He is immune to the shackles of brash masculinity that otherwise defines his own military culture.
Othello kills Desdemona in fear of being made a cuckold
‘she must die, else she’ll betray more men’
the ‘smother(ing)’ of Desdemona is an act of self ‘sacrifice’, in reverence to patriarchal solidarity.
jealousy A3S3 + A5S2
‘beware… of jealousy.. it is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on’
love is victim to the jealousy within the human condition
‘villiany hath doth made mocks with love’
Marriage was important for Othello’s public image, any threat to such would be immediately dealt with
‘a lascivious moor’
hypersexual representation of the black other
‘I love the gentle DESDEMONA’
Othello elevates the virtues of his wife