Othello Context

Question 1

16th Century Venice-

Answer 1

Admired for its wealth and cosmopolitan society. Also his republican constitution, defended against repeated papal assaults. “The idealised city of classical theory”

Question 2

16th century Venice II -

Answer 2

A site of transaction and change, which connects it to the play’s exploration of bifurcated characters.

Question 3

“The chains of being”-

Answer 3

Runs through all the hierarchies of human existence. Iago draws on these concepts in conceiving his plan to domestically disrupt O and D’ relationship.

Question 4

Moors and racial identity-

Answer 4

Was used widely in the period of publication. Binary between lack and white imagery runs through Othello is a marker of difference between othello and his European peers. Othello however is a noble figure of great authority, Iago depicts a animalistic view.

Question 5

Gender and “sexual” order-

Answer 5

The concept of equality to sexes would’ve seemed very foreign to most in SS ‘s day. A dominant women was unnatural, a symptom of disorder. Renaissance and medieval literature is often misogynistic, as there is a general distrust of women.

Question 6

The age of exploration: absorption and displacement-

Answer 6

Sociological reading of early European colonialism, posits that power is exercised by displacing the original. This is seen through Iago as the arch-manipulator.