| Foreword Notes | -Chief argument for this Othello unit: William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is the greatest poet dramatist who has ever lived.->Whereas Mr. W says we have outgrown The Odyssey, we will never (when it comes to fiction) catch up to Shakespeare. (defined by cursive S) |
| Foreword Notes 2 | -Avoid “no fear Shakespeare” because all the quizzes will come from the notes, not the “bald play” ->(avoid peeking ahead and avoid all summaries) |
| Foreword Notes 3 | -Boys in the Elizabethan (Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603) and the Jacobean (King James’ rule began in 1603) theatre played all the female roles because it was improper for women to be on the stage. |
| Dramatis Personae (Cast) | Males:Duke of Venice: Leader of the SenateBrabantio: A senator Other SenatorsGratiano: Brother to BrabantioLodovico: Kinsman of Brabantio [kinsman=relative]Othello: A noble Moor in the service of the Venetian state-hired generalCassio: His lieutenant-2nd in commandIago: His ancient-personal assistantRoderigo: A Venetian gentlemanMontano: Othello’s predecessor in the government of Cyprus-Gov. [governor?] of CyprusClown: Servant to OthelloFemales:Desdemona: Daughter to Brabantio and wife to Othello.Emilia: Wife to IagoBianca: Mistress to CassioExtras:Sailor, Messenger, Herald, Officers, Gentlemen, Musicians, and Attendants.Scene: Venice: a seaport in Cyprus |
| Foreword Notes 4 | -Many good English teachers seem to use the EBARS (Everything But Actually Reading Shakespeare) method.->The key to a first time read through of Shakespeare is to first understand the plot.->Mr. W has 5 main reasons why S is so great…TBA (to be annouced)->Cannot really comprehend these 5 reasons except through serious digging. (vs. EBARS) |
| Foreword Notes 5 | -Othello first performed in 1604-a fictional 15th century story set in Venice.->Shakespeare lifted the plot from Garibaldi Cinthio’s “Moor of Venice” (1565)->Considering that Shakespeare only invented 4 of the plots from his 36/37 plays (first gathered together in the First Folio [1623] 7 years after Shakespeare died), why is Shakespeare so great? |
| Study Set Format:Front:Quote:”Lorem Ipsum” | Back:Explanation:”Dolor sit amet”Page Number and which character spoke the quote:”Ex. Iago pg.2″ |
| Quote:”Who hast had my purseAs if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this.” | Explanation:Q: Why does Iago have Roderigo’s money?Iago pg.1 |
| Quote:”Three great ones of the city,In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,” | Explanation:Iago upset because Cassio got promoted over him even though Iago got 3 top Venetians to recommend him to Othello.Iago pg.1 |
| Quote:”Mere prattle [talk] without practice” | Explanation:Cassio=college boyIago pg.2 |
| Quote:’t is the cure of service,”Preferment goes by letter and affection” | Explanation:Non-job related promotion.Iago pg.2 |
| Quote:”I would not follow him then.” | Explanation:So, quit!Roderigo pg.2 |
| Quote: [Passage Excerpt]”You shall markMany a duteous and knee-crooking knave,That doting on his own obsequious bondageWears out his time, much like his master’s ass,For nought but provender*, and when he’s old, cashier’d: Whip me such honest knaves.” | Explanation:Contrast to IagoProvender*: Dry food for animals [dry oats etc.]Iago pg.2 |
| Quote: [3 quotes]”I follow him to serve my turn upon him:””And throwing but shows of service on their lords””And such a one do I profess myself.” | Explanation:Iago will pretend to be loyal, and hurt Othello far more from the inside.Iago pg.2 |
| Quote:”I am not what I am” | Explanation: Paradox? True statement that appears to contradict itself.Iago pg.3 |
| Quote:”Thick-lips” | Explanation:Othello is black.Roderigo pg.3 |
| Quote:”Call up her father,” | Explanation:Lets awaken Brabantio and tell him his daughter Desdemona, eloped with Othello.Iago pg.3 |
| Quote:”Though he in a fertile climate dwell,Plague him with flies:” | Explanation:UnansweredIago pg.3 |
| Quote:”An old black ramIs tupping your white ewe.” | Explanation:Black man sleeping with your white daughter.Iago pg.3 |
| Quote:”I have charged thee not to haunt about my doors:” | Explanation:Roderigo obsessed with Desdemona.Brabantio pg.4 |
| Quote:”My daughter is not for thee;” | UnansweredBrabantio pg.4 |
| Quote:”Your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.” | Another slur to provoke him (Brabantio) (Q: Is Iago a racist?)Iago pg.4 |
| Quote:”This accident is not unlike my dream:” | Explanation:An apparent dichotomy between his conscious and his subconscious mind (because he was SHOCKED by the actual news)see end pg.92 noteBrabantio pg.5 |
| Quote:”Lead to the Sagittary*” | Explanation:Roderigo, you bring Brabantio to the inn where Desdemona and Othello are staying.Sagittary*: Probably a well-known inn.Iago pg.5 |
| Quote:”How got she out?” | Explanation:Funny: Is she a pet? (Desdemona is 30!)Brabantio pg.6 |
| Quote:”O, would you had had her!” | Explanation:Brabantio deeply respects Othello and he despises Roderigo! (But nothing overcomes Brabantio’s belief that Othello is sub-human)Brabantio pg.6 |
| Quote:”On, good Roderigo;” | Explanation:Brabantio has changed his mind about RoderigoBrabantio pg.6 |
| Quote:”With the little godliness I have,” | Explanation:See 18b [bottom of pg. 18]- joking about his own atheism.Iago pg.6 |
| Term:”Magnifico” | Definition:Magnifico=BrabantioIago pg.6 |
| Quote:”Hath in his effect a voice potentialAs double as the duke’s:” | Explanation:Perhaps Brabantio more powerful than Duke who’s in charge (suspense about the coming conflict)Iago pg.6 |
| Quote:”Let him do his spite:My services, which I have done the signiory,Shall out-tongue his complaints.” | Explanation:Unworried, ultra self-confident about how good of a general he is – (nothing gets to Othello.)Othello pg.7 |
| Quote:”But that I love the gentle Desdemona,” | Explanation:Not just seducing her.Othello pg.7 |
| Quote:”You have been hotly call’d for;” | Explanation:Suspense because Othello most needed for war, at the moment he has perhaps committed the greatest “crime”Cassio pg.7 |
| Quote:”Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.Good signior, you shall more command with yearsThan with your weapons.” | Explanation:Pokes fun at their age. (Brabantio)Othello pg.8 |
| Quote:”Damn’d as thou art, thou hast enchanted her;” | Explanation:Major insult because he knows Othello has converted to Christianity.Brabantio pg.8 |
| Quote:”Opposite to marriage that she shunn’dThe wealthy curled darlings of our nation,” | Explanation:Desdemona turned down the best UU (upper upper class) boys in Venice=doesn’t want to get married-She thus didn’t want a husband.Brabantio pg.8 |
| Quote:”The duke in council!In this time of the night! Bring him away:” | Explanation:Brabantio knows his UU (upper upper class) friend the Duke will empathize, so lets all go to him.Brabantio pg.9 |
| Quote:”Yet do they all confirmA Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.” | Explanation:Turks/Ottomites heading to Cyprus to take it from us.Second Senator pg.10 |
| Quote: [3 quotes]”My daughter! O, my daughter””Dead””Ay, to me;” | Explanation:Brabantio so upset that the senators think she died! (also he’s already rejected her and doesn’t even acknowledge her if Desdemona and Othello are together) -pretty racistIn order of spoken lines:1) Brabantio2) All senators and Duke3) Brabantiopg.11 |
| Quote: [2 quotes]”The bloody book of law””Our proper son” | Explanation:Dramatic irony (increases tension because Duke promises revenge on the perpetrator.)Duke pg.12 |
| Term:”Moor” | Explanation:Moor=North African=OthelloBrabantio pg.12 |
| Quote:”Nothing, but this is so.” | Explanation:Why are you asking the black guy?Brabantio pg.12 |
| Quote:”to fall in love with what she fear’d to look on!” | Q: How did Othello and Desdemona even meet? (worlds apart socially) |
| Footnote: | Footnote:Q: Why learn literary and rhetorical strategy devices in English class?->A: To precisely explain how an author is being effective with his/her writing.->A: To reveal how an author is persuading the reader to think or act in a certain way.Footnote pg.12 |
| Quote:”Without more certain and more overt testThan these thin habits and poor likelihoods” | Explanation:Wants evidence (reasonable objection here)Duke pg.13 |
| Quote:”Not only take away, but let your sentenceEven fall upon my life.” | Explanation:Stakes his life on What he thinks Desdemona will say.Othello pg.13 |
| Quote:”Her father loved me, oft invited me,” | Explanation:Brabantio loved Othello’s war stories, respected his incredible skill, and invited him over.Othello pg.13 |
| Quote:”This is to hearWould Desdemona seriously incline:But still the house-affairs would draw her thence;” | Explanation:She [Desdemona] runs household because her mother is dead.Othello pg.14 |
| Quote:She wish’d she had not heard it, yet she wish’dThat heaven had made her such a man:” | Explanation:Wants to live the adventurous life.Othello pg.14 |
| Quote:”If I had a friend that loved her,I should but teach him how to tell my story,And that would woo her.” | Explanation:Flirting with him [Othello]Othello pg.14 |
| Quote:”I think this tale would win my daughter too,” | Explanation:Duke uses empathy because he knows Brabantio is ashamed-shows Duke is a smart bottom-line thinker.Duke pg.14 |
| Quote:”If she confess that she was half the wooer,Destruction on my head, if my bad blameLight on the man!” | Explanation:If Desdemona did half, then I’ll drop the criminal prosecution.Brabantio pg.15 |
| Quote:”And so much duty as my mother show’dTo you, preferring you before her father,” | Explanation:Did Brabantio run off with Desdemona’s mother? (Maybe because hinted at)Desdemona pg.15 |
| Quote:”God be with you! I have done.Please it your grace, on to the state-affairs:” | Explanation:Shakespeare provides an excellent example of a man’s SUPPOSED ability to “compartmentalize” his life.Brabantio pg.15 |
| Quote:”Robb’d that smiles steals something from the thief;” | Explanation:Make the best of it and Othello will feel bad for going behind your back.Duke pg.15 |
| Quote: [2 quotes]”I crave fit disposition for my wife,””As levels with her breeding.” | Explanation:I need UU (upper upper class) accommodations for my wife. Othello pg.16 |
| Quote:”Be’t at her father’s” | Explanation:”Proves Duke is not a racist because he’s ignorant of the gravity of the situation for Brabantio.Duke pg.16 |
| Quote:”I’ll not have it so.” | Explanation:I have no daughter (Brabantio disowned Desdemona)Brabantio pg.16 |
| Quote:”May trumpet to the world: my heart’s subdued” | Explanation:See 17t (top of pg.17)Desdemona pg.16 |
| Quote:”Even to the very quality of my lord:I saw Othello’s visage in his mind,” | Explanation:Very deep emotional connection that transcends romantic love. (I am Heathcliff! Wuthering Heights [1847]) |
| Quote:”Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:She has decieved her father, and may thee.” | Explanation:Ambiguous=Desdemona cheating on OthelloBrabantio pg.18 |
| Quote:”My life upon her faith!Honest Iago,” | Explanation:I’ll bet my life she’ll be true. (faithful)Othello pg.18 |
| Quote:” ‘t is in ourselves that we thus or thus. OUr bodies are gardens; to the which our wills are gardeners:” | Explanation:Mind over matter, no outside spiritual influences existIago pg.18 |
| Quote:”We have reason to cool our raging motions [emotions], our carnal stings, our unbitten [unbidden] lusts;” | Explanation:[?]We have reason and our minds to control ourselves?UnansweredIago pg.18-19 |
| Footnote: | Footnote:Dr. Carl Jung: “What remains subconscious becomes destiny” |
| Quote:”Follow thou the wars; defeat thy favour* with an usurped beard;” | Explanation:Disguise yourself [Roderigo] as a soldier and come with us!Iago pg.19 |
| Quote:”Supersubtle Venetian” | Explanation:Rhetorical Strategy.Iago pg.19 |
Othello Notes
July 3, 2019