Othello Test

What are five themes in Othello ? – Hypocrisy – Passion – Jealousy- Prejudice – Revenge
What is the exposition in Othello? – Begins in Venice – Desdemona and Othello get married – Iago and Rodrigo talk to Brobintino about the marriage between Desdemona
What is the rising action in Othello? – Duke Supports Othello – All go to Cyprus – Iago loves Desdemona – Desdemona drops the handkerchief – Emilia picks up the handkerchief and gives it to Iago
What is the climax in Othello? – Iago takes handkerchief and plants it with Cassio – Othello believes Iago when he tells him that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio
What is the falling action in Othello? – Rodrigo stabs Cassio in the leg- Iago Kills Rodrigo – Iago sends Emilia to catch Othello killing Desdemona
What is the resolution in Othello? – Othello kills Desdemona – Othello kills himself – Iago is exposed
Name five facts about William Shakespeare. – Born in England – Educated in the Kings school, did not go to university – Married to Anne Hathaway, had a daughter and a set of twins- Was also a poet- Wrote 154 sonnets
How is Othello both an insider and an outsider in the Venetian society? – He is an outsider because of his race and an insider due to his rank.
How does Iago manipulate scene II? – He pretends to be drunk and throws Cassio under the bus with Othello
How does Iago manipulate scene III? Why does Iago comment “Ha, I like not that”? Also, what is the effect of Desdemona’s desperate attempts to advocate on Cassio’s behalf? – Iago gets Desdemona and Cassio together to talk – Desdemona is trying to get Othello to forgive Cassio, which makes Othello more suspicious
What is the principal strategy that Iago uses to convence Othello that his wife has betrayed him with Cassio? He is planting seeds of doubt and jealousy into Othello’s head
From these two scenes, what can we infer is Othello’s tragic flaw? – He is jealous and easily manipulated
Why is the handkerchief that Desdemona has lost so important to Othello? For Othello, what does the handkerchief represent about Desdemona and by giving giving it away, what is she symbolically giving away? – Othello got it from his mother, it represents his love and by giving it away she gave away Othello’s heart
What does Cassio do with the handkerchief he found? – Gives it to Bianca and asks her to make copies of it because he likes it
Othello announces in line 169-170 that Desdemona “Shall not live.” He tells Iago to get him some poison but Iago, “Don’t do it with poison. Strangle her in her bed..” Why does he insist he strangle her instead of using poison? – So Othello will get caught
Why doesn’t Desdemona react more strongly when Othello accuses her of infidelity? – She knows she is innocent
What is the purpose of the scene between Rodrigo and Iago at the end of scene 2? – Iago wanter Rodrigo to kill Cassio
What clue does Emilia give regarding the type of husband Iago is? She talks about husbands all together, we know she is talking about Iago
How does Iago’s plan begin to crumble? – Rodrigo failed to kill Cassio, Iago blames it on Othello and kills Rodrigo
“I’ll not shed her blood/Not scar that Whiter skin of hers…” Why does he not want to scar skin in the process of killing her? Why does it matter? – He doesn’t want to get caught and he is admiring his beauty
What is bizarre about “I have plucked thy rose”? What is the implication of that line, but what is the reality of what he is talking about? Why use that imagery of what he is about to do? After he has plucked the rose it cannot come back to life, he is reconsidering killing Desdemona