Othello Mind Map

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  • 'Othello'
    • Characters
      • Othello
        • 'I, like the base Indian, threw a pearl away.'
        • 'Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men'
        • 'She loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them.'
        • 'Her reputation, which was once as white as Dian's visage, is now as black as mine own face.'
        • 'Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate. Nor set down aught in malice.'
      • Desdemona
        • Protected in Venice by her senator father.
        • 'My noble father, I do believe here a divided duty.
      • Cassio
        • 'Reputation! Reputation! Reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself.'
      • Iago
        • 'Beware, my lord, jealousy is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.'
        • 'Even now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.'
        • 'Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.'
        • 'I hate the Moor...that 'twixt my sheets has done my office.'
        • 'The Moor and your daughter are making the beast with two backs.'
      • Emilia
        • 'I nothing but to please his fantasy.'
        • 'We are all but stomachs, and they are all but food.'
        • 'The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.'
    • Context
      • Coutezans in Venice operated legally- it was even taxed although women were still oppressed.
      • Venice was a misogynist society, as well as racist- they did not appreciate Moors.
      • Cyprus was the birthplace of Aphrodite- the Bay of Nicosia.
      • 'Othelllo' written in the Renaissance period- Moors and black people were seen to be 'dark' and 'treacherous' because of their skin colour.
        • Supported by Brabantio's quote: 'That thou hast...abused her delicate youth with drugs or minerals.'
      • Aristotelian tragedy- there is hamartia, agnorisis and catharsis.
    • Themes
      • Racism
      • Misogyny
      • Tragedy
      • Warfare
      • Jealousy
    • Love Through the Ages
      • Courtly love: Desdemona is of a much higher class than Othello.
      • Tragic Love: Othello's hamartia and Iago's manipulation of it means that 'Othello' turns into a tragedy, as his true love for Desdemona will never be realised.
      • Sexual Love: Iago makes explicit sexual references to Desdemona and Othello's relationship, to make Othello seem predatory.
        • 'Your daughter is covered with a Barbary horse.'
  • Emilia
    • 'I nothing but to please his fantasy.'
    • 'We are all but stomachs, and they are all but food.'
    • 'The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.'

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