Paper 1 Flashcards
Othello - Contextual era
Jacobean era; religion and state are one, and uptight patriarchy.
The Great Gatsby - Context
Quite autobiographical; Fitzgerald as Gatsby, Zelda as Daisy.
WWI shock; the lost generation.
Jazz age for extravagance and glamour to satiate desires.
Socio-historically, capitalism at its highest.
The American Dream; money is king. Woman seek freedom by turning masculine (Jordan Baker) or by sexuality (Myrtle).
Emergence of “New Woman”, self-expressive, smoking/drinking, rejecting traditional roles.
The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald’s across texts link.
Fitzgerald in ‘This Side of Paradise’; “all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken”.
Harold Bloom on Othello
Harold Bloom; O as “self-enchanter”.
Harold Bloom; O’s downfall due to “Iago knowing Othello more than Othello knows himself”.
Renaissance on Othello
Renaissance influenced…
= Challenging traditional values; First noble black protagonist in English literature, Desdemona outspoken and assertive. BUT end of play, O is “barbarian”, “thick-lips” and “thing”.
= Intellectual rebirth; reason and improving man’s abilities. Time of Niccolo Machiavelli. Emotions are destructive.
Original story behind Othello
‘Un Capitano Moro’; changed ‘Ensign’ to Iago, but Ensign was motivated by lust, Iago ambiguous, motiveless force of evil.
Othello - setting context
Cyprus = known for war and conflict, hence where Othello gets his status from.
‘Moor’ = African (non-European) or Muslim (non-Christian), an outsider to be distrusted.
Venice = recognition by prostitution.
Florentine = not “kind” or “honest”, but rather place of Machiavelli.
Othello - cannon
in between KL and M;
Des and Cord both Christly.
KL, O, and M all do not know themselves.
Lady M and Iago play on emasculation, and so on identity.
Patriarchial values between Des and Julliet, needing father’s permission to marry (Des rebells).
Honigmann on Othello
D as “the strongest, the most heroic person in the play”.
Caryl Phillips on Othello
D as “possession” and “prize”.
Coleridge on Othello
Iago with “malign (evil) motivations”.
Samuel Johnson on Othello.
“not to make an unequal match” and “not to yield too readily to suspicion”.
Message to restore order by removing the outsider.
Sara Rimer on TGG
“green light” symbolising aspirations of many young people to build successful career, but tole with a “level of honesty”, a “cautionary tale”.
Marxism on TGG
Gatsby and Myrtle cannot escape their origins.
Feminism on TGG
Feminism; D, J, M all embody “New Woman”. But all suffer from society.
