Setting Flashcards
1
Q
Venice
A
Elizabethan dramatists often used Italianate settings for plays about intrigue, secret love, affairs and revenge. This is because foreign courts were stereotyped as being villainy and full of sexual perversion
Shakespeare uses the Venetian setting to establish Othello as an outsider. Although he serves the senate, Othello is not Italian - unlike his adversary Iago. Iago is a typical Italianate villain: scheming, selfish and immoral
2
Q
Cyprus
A
The conflict and danger of the setting mirrors the tragic events that unfold there. Away from the ‘civilisation’ of Venice, Iago’s evil schemes prosper. Cyprus is threatened by the war and Othello’s peace of mind and marriage is threatened by Iago.
