Othello Race quotes

Question 1

‘This is Venice’ (Brabantio)

Answer 1

Term PN ‘Venice’
Demonstrative pronoun ‘this’
B finds it necessary to remind everyone of the high class society they lived in- therefore shouldn’t accept Othello.
C- Venice was renowned for being high class and full of love,
Black characters wouldn’t have been accepted
Associated with villainy and corruption (Italy)

Question 2

‘Thou hast enchanted her’ B

Answer 2

Hyperbolic
B assumes the only way O and D will get together is through O using magic to seduce her
C- plants were used as lust-inducing drugs

Question 3

‘The Moor’

Answer 3

Vocative, racially profiling him as little as his race
C- Moor used to describe North Africans
Racism in Elizabethan era saw opposition to mixed marriages
Elizabeth I issued removal of ‘Blackamoors’ from England

Question 4

‘An old black ram is tupping your white ewe’ I

Answer 4

Metaphor, animalistic imagery, zoomorphism, pre modifying adjectives
Iago uses animalistic language to diminish O to being like an animal
C- 2015 RSC chose to detract issue of race by making Iago black

Question 5

‘Valiant Othello, we must straight away employ you’ Duke

Answer 5

Pre-modifier ‘valiant’, Modal verb ‘must’
The Duke respects Othello’s authority and what he’s done for the country
C- Black men were portrayed as Villains in Renaissance dramas- O isn’t.

Question 6

‘And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence, And my portance in my traveller’s history.’ O

Answer 6

Sibilance, Abstract noun ‘redemption’
Exotic reference to slavery
C- Shakespeare subverts the idea of black people only being slaves by making O a ‘Noble Moor’

Question 7

‘Your son-in-law is far more fair than black’ Duke

Answer 7

Adverb of Degree-‘far’ Contrast of descriptive adjectives ‘fair’ and ‘black’
The Duke stands up for O as he recognises his loyalty to the country

Question 8

‘Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell’ O

Answer 8

Metaphor, abstract noun ‘vengeance’
Othello associates blackness with something negative- Vengeance

Question 9

‘Her name… is now begrimed and black as mine own face’ O

Answer 9

Simile, juxtaposition of descriptive adjectives ‘fresh’ and ‘begrimed’
O describes D as low as him after believing her affair

Question 10

‘O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil’ Emilia

Answer 10

Adverb of Degree- Blacker, Juxtaposition between common nouns of ‘angel’ and ‘devil’ Semantic field of morality
E points out the contrast between O and D after seeing what jealousy did to O.

Question 11

‘Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow’ O

Answer 11

Adverb of degree ‘whiter’
D is seen as pure throughout and her race reflects this in her contrast to O