THUG Notes Othello (Some language may be offensive)
** Discussion Questions: Part One ** 613:
How,
according to the editors, does the construction of
Shakespeare's plays differ from that found in morality
plays?
Explain: "[T]he power that
continually discharges itself throughout his plays and poems,
at once constituting and unsettling everything it touches, is
the polymorphous power of language" (613).
614:
In what ways, according to the editors, were Shakespeare's
sonnets unlike other sonnet sequences of his day?
Describe the format of the
Shakespearean sonnet.
Act One: 630-31:
What is the nature of the relationship between Iago and
Othello?
632:
Explain: "In following him, I
follow but myself" (1.1.55).
Why does Iago hate Othello? (see
also 1.3.376ff and 2.1.287ff). Does Othello suspect?
640:
Why should Desdemona be "feared to look on" Othello
(1.3.98)?
646:
Explain: "Our bodies are our
gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners"
(1.3.319-20). What literary technique is being used
here?
Why does Iago repeatedly say to "put money in thy purse"?
Other Discussion Questions: 610:
What was the name of
Shakespeare's acting company?
Why,
according to the editors, was it not easy during
Shakespeare's time to make a living in the professional
theater?
What is the name of the
theater where Shakespeare's company began performing in 1599?
610-11:
What are the four categories
of Shakespeare's plays?
611:
When was the First Folio
published?
613:
Explain: "Shakespeare had the
power to multiply himself marvelously" (613).
How can Shakespeare be "[a]t
once an agent of civility and an agent of subversion" (613)?
614:
Describe the figure of the Dark Lady.
Act One:
What is a Moor?
630:
Who is Iago? What is an ancient?
What is the nature of the relationship between Iago and
Cassio?
Who is Roderigo? Why might he have a conflict with
Othello?
632:
What does it mean to say "an old black ram / Is tupping
your white ewe" (1.1.85-86)?
633:
What is "the beast with two backs" (1.1.113)?
636:
Why have the officers come for Othello?
Why does Othello believe he'll be exonerated of
Brabantio's charges?
Who is Janus? What is the significance of Iago
invoking him?
637:
Why does Brabantio call Othello a thief?
What does Brabantio believe is the cause of Desdemona's
interest in Othello?
640:
How has Othello "won" Desdemona?
642:
Describe the relationship between Desdemona and her
father.
Describe the relationship between Desdemona and
Othello. How is it different?
643:
Is Brabantio appeased by Desdemona? Explain.
647:
What is Iago's plan at the end of Act One? Why is
he doing this?
** Discussion Questions: Part
Two ** Act Two:
649:
Explain: "The riches of the ship is come on shore"
(2.1.83).
650:
Describe the relationship between Iago and Emilia.
655:
Why does Iago want to be "even" with Othello "wife for
wife" (2.1.295)?
661:
What, according to Cassio is "the
immortal part of myself"(2.3.260)? How has he lost
it? Explain his reasoning.
663:
Explain: "When devils will
the blackest sins put on, / They do suggest at first with
heavenly shows" (2.3.343-44).
Act Three (see videos in Kanopy):
What is dramatic irony?
Present an example of it from Act Three.
669:
What is the "immediate jewel of
[our] souls" (3.3.159)?
Explain: "Who steals my purse steals trash"
(3.3.160).
670:
What is "the green-eyed monster
which doth mock / The meat it feeds on" (3.3.168-69)?
Explain.
682:
Why does Cassio give Bianca the handkerchief?
Other Discussion Questions: Act Two:
651:
How does Iago view women in general?
654:
Explain: "If she had been blessed, she would never
have loved the Moor" (2.1.249-50).
658:
Explain: "The lieutenant is to be saved before the
ancient" (2.3.103-4).
Act Three:
670:
Explain: "To be once in doubt / Is once to be resolved"
(3.3.181-82).
Explain: "She did deceive her father, marrying you"
(3.3.208). How is this statement significant?
673:
Why has Iago been telling Emilia to steal Desdemona's
handkerchief? For how long has he been doing so?
Explain: "I nothing but to please his fantasy"
(3.3.301).
677:
Why does Othello ask Iago to have Cassio killed?
680:
Explain: "They are all but stomachs, and we all but food"
(3.4.104).
** Discussion
Questions: Part Three **
Act Four:
688:
Why is Othello commanded home?
Why is it significant that Cassio
will take his place in Cyprus?
691:
Why doesn't Othello directly ask Desdemona about Cassio
specifically?
698:
Explain: "The ills we do,
their ills instruct us so" (4.3.102).
Act Five: 701:
What is "the cause" (5.2.1)? Of what is it the
cause?
702:
Why "must" Desdemona die?
703:
Why does Othello consider Desdemona's murder a
"sacrifice"?
705:
Why doesn't Desdemona implicate
Othello in her death?
709:
Explain: "For naught I did in hate, but all in
honor" (5.2.300).
710:
Explain: Othello "threw a pearl away / Richer than
all his tribe" (5.2.352-53). Why is Othello speaking in
the third person here?
Other Discussion Questions:
Act Four: 687:
Why does Othello want to kill Desdemona?
Why does Iago tell him to strangle her?
692:
Why does Desdemona ask Emilia to put on the wedding
sheets that night?
696:
What is the significance of the song Desdemona
discusses?
