othello themes

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  • Themes
    • Revenge
      • "jealousy ... green eyed monster" - Iago
      • The whole play is fuelled by jealousy. Begins with Iago being jealous of Cassio. He then lends this to Othello, influencing him.
      • "wife for wife" - Iago suddenly thinks Othello is sleeping with Emilia, 'eye for an eye' revenge.
      • "justice of it pleases" - Othello believes he can be judge, Jury and executioner of what he THINKS Desdemona has done.
    • Appearance vs Reality
      • "I am not what I am" - Iago
      • "I follow him to serve my turn upon him" - Iago
      • "by Janus" Janus was the two faced Roman god, reinforces Iago's deception
      • "tis a pageant / to keep us in false gaze" manifested itself in political situation.  Global situation reflecting  private one
      • 2.1 begins with "discern at sea" getting hard to see what is happening now, murky and confusing
      • "men should be what they see, or those that be not, would they might seem none" - Iago
        • Iago plays with language, exploring the idea. He manipulates language portraying how the concept is meaningless to him.
        • Pleasure from the fact that he is presenting his scheme to Othello but he is blind to it.
      • "to be direct and honest is not safe" - Iago
      • "I should be wise for honesty's a fool" - Iago
    • Reputation
      • "reputation, reputation, reputation" - Cassio, after being demoted this was all he could think about
      • Context: Reputation was one of the most important things to men at the time.
      • Context: during Renaissance period a woman's virtue was inextricably linked with her husband's reputation. 90% of those publicly disgraced at the time were due to their wife's reputation.
      • "rather be a toad ... than keep a corner in the thing I love for others' use" - Othello
        • Context: during Renaissance period a woman's virtue was inextricably linked with her husband's reputation. 90% of those publicly disgraced at the time were due to their wife's reputation.
    • Love
      • Aphrodite, the goddess of love was born off the coast of Cyprus
      • Othello places love before war when he greets Desdemona before the generals as he arrives. The herald later places war before love, showing war will prevail.
      • "she loved me for the dangers I had passed, and I loved her that she did pity them" - Othello
        • he suggests their love is equal and reciprocated. Later it seems as if she loves him more.
      • one reading of the play may suggest that Othello kills her out of love, he loves her so much he can't bear to see her with anyone else
      • 2.1 when Desdemona and Othello are reunited see how good their love is
        • "is it were now to die, t'were now to be most happy"
      • Iago mentions "love" often in soliloquy at the end of 2.1, debases it and suggests it cannot survive
    • Handkerchief
      • An important prop that Shakespeare draws attention to when Desdemona drops it 3.3
      • "spotted with strawberries" could be symbols of Desdemona's blood that will be shed due to this prop
      • "magic in the web of it" - Othello
        • "web" echoes Iago's earlier words about nets and being trapped
        • "magic" conforms to racial stereotype
      • symbols different things for each person
        • Othello - Desdemona's unfaithfulness
        • Desdemona - initially symbol of love later on of fear
        • Emilia - test of her loyalty to Iago
        • Iago - evil + plans working
        • Bianca - how little Cassio cares about her
        • Cassio - shows how carelessly he treats women
          • due to her low status?
          • because he is infected by Iago?
    • Willow song 4.3
      • the story it depicts foreshadows Desdemona's death
      • willow was a sign of forsaken love
      • sycamore has ominous overtones as Scottish barons used to hang their enemies there
      • in 'Romeo and Juliet' Romeo can be found wandering through a sycamore grove and so it has become a symbol of forsaken love
      • mirrors much of what happened to Desdemona suggesting their ends too will be the same

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