Othello general overview notes

Context notes- Lenny Henry: finding Shakespeare

• father local glove maker- went to grammar school- father ran out of money- taken out of school- London
• was an outsider- most have uni degrees (he didn't have one)
• unusual for him to become a playwrite
• low education "gave voice to the common man

Stage craft- theatrical context

• the higher up in the globe you go= more expensive
• social higherachy
• Shakespeare's audience= varied, everyone from society in the same place at the same time
• staging is interactive- written for audience close to actors

Major themes 

• betrayal
• deception
• death/murder
• state conflict
• appearence vs reality
• jelousy
• power/corruption
• loyalty

Concepts

• racisim
• misogny
• sexism
• bigotry

Relattiomships between individuals and society

• military order
• duty
• loyalty
• reputation/status
• pride

Shakespearean context

• Shakespeare straddles Elizabethan + Jacobean eras- mostly Jacobean
• population increase from 50,000 to 200,000
• QE issued edicts odering expulsion of groups of black men- 1596
• world shakespeare creates shows…