structure and genre

Question 1

how many acts is othello divided up into?

Answer 1

five

Question 2

what is the exposition?

Answer 2

where the plot is set in motion

Question 3

what is the rising action?

Answer 3

where the plot is developed

Question 4

what is the climax?

Answer 4

where the plot reaches its fullest point of tension

Question 5

what is the falling action?

Answer 5

where the plot is unravelled

Question 6

what is the denouement?

Answer 6

where the plot is solved and concluded

Question 7

what narrative structure dominates the play?

Answer 7

the rising action

Question 8

what is the climax of the play?

Answer 8

when othello confronts desdemona and kills her

Question 9

what narrative structures happen very quickly?

Answer 9

the falling action and denouement, which both occur in the final scene of the play

Question 10

what is a tragedy?

Answer 10

a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis in audiences

Question 11

what is catharsis?

Answer 11

a kind of ‘purging of the soul’ that happens when we see a tragedy.
the idea is that if we go through this purging, we become better people at the end of it, because we have learnt from the story

Question 12

how may othello be seen as a tragedy of miscalculation?

Answer 12

othello trusts and is hence manipulated by the antagonist, iago

Question 13

what is it called when a great person experiences a reversal of fortune?

Answer 13

peripeteia

Question 14

what is a characteristic of a tragic hero?

Answer 14

they endure a hamartia, a tragic flaw

Question 15

what could potentially be othello’s hamartia?

Answer 15

his ability to be easily swayed by the words of another

Question 16

what is it called when a tragic hero believes that the tragedy is brought about by other external factors and not their own flaws until the end of the play?

Answer 16

anagnorisis

Question 17

what does anagnorisis translate to?

Answer 17

‘knowing again’

Question 18

what was often the spectacle in the tragedy?

Answer 18

multiple deaths at the end of the play

Question 19

how can othello be seen as an early ‘domestic’ tragedy?

Answer 19

it occurs within a family unit

Question 20

how are comedies structured?

Answer 20

they begin in an old world, which is often ordered and restrictive.
There then comes a chnage in that old world and the characters rage against it.
The characters move to a green world to escape the old world and in the green world everything becokes topsy-turvy and upside-down.
it is only after the choas of this green world is resolved that a new world may begin again.

Question 21

how does tragedy structure differ to comedy strcture?

Answer 21

there usually is an old world to begin with, but the green world is much more dangerous and starts to spiral out of control.
in a tragedy, no easy solution is found to end the green world and disorder dominates, resulting in the death of a main character. it is only after this death that a new world can begin again.

Question 22

how does othello differ to a comedy?

Answer 22

in comedies marriage tends to solve the problems in a play, whereas in othello, marriage initiates all the problems.

Question 23

what initiates all the problems in Othello?

Answer 23

marriage

Question 24

what place represents the ‘Old World’ in Othello?

Answer 24

venice

Question 25

what are they key elements of tragedy according to aristotle?

Answer 25

1- good tragedies are complex
2-show suffering
3-focus on a moral character
4-contain spectacle