Starter quiz
- In Shakespeare's 'Othello', which character dehumanises Othello at the beginning of the play?
- Desdemona
- Cassio
- Iago ✓
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- In 'Othello', what epithet do characters use to describe Othello that marks him out as an outsider?
- The General
- The Moor ✓
- The Foreigner
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- In 'Othello', what does Brabantio say that shows his stereotyping of Othello?
- ''she is abused, stolen....corrupted'' ✓
- ''My daughter! O, my daughter!''
- ''My particular grief Is of so floodgate and o’erbearing nature''
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- Which belief was held in Jacobean England about race?
- everyone was equal regardless of race
- darker skin was associated with moral impurity ✓
- lighter skin was associated with moral impurity
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- What happens to Othello in Act 3 Scene 3 of 'Othello' that suggests the play is at its peripeteia?
- He hits Desdemona
- He makes a plan to murder Iago
- He sails back to Venice
- He says that his race may be the reason that Desdemona has been 'unfaithful' ✓
- Consumed with jealousy, he enters a trance
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- How does Shakespeare subvert racial stereotypes in Jacobean England through 'Othello'?
- By introducing Othello as a noble Moor ✓
- By characterising Iago as the evil villain ✓
- By showing Othello to be animalistic
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Exit quiz
- What does it mean if Jacobean society was insular?
- They were well travelled.
- They welcomed all cultures to their society.
- They were ignorant of other cultures. ✓
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- Which idea was embedded in the cultural consciousness of Jacobean England?
- Everyone was equal
- Women were superior to men
- Lightness and light skin was associated with evil
- Darkness and dark skin was associated with moral deviance ✓
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- What reveals that Othello has fully internalised the racial stereotype that black equates to sin by the end of the play 'Othello'?
- ''Her name, that was as fresh... is now begrimed...As mine...face'' ✓
- ''Haply for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation''
- ''Threw a pearl away''
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- In 'Othello', how does Othello's outsider status make him more vulnerable to Iago's machinations?
- He doesn't speak the same language as Iago
- He is socially inexperienced in Venetian society ✓
- He is too busy proving himself as a good warrior to listen to scrutinise Iago
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- What happens to Othello as the play 'Othello' progresses?
- he becomes empowered by his race
- he becomes dislocated by other people's perception of his race ✓
- the significance he places on race diminishes
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- What does the image of Othello killing the 'malignant Turk' as he kills himself in his final soliloquy in 'Othello' suggest?
- He acknowledges his status as an outsider ✓
- He wants to kill the part of him deemed as 'other' ✓
- He is proud of who he is
- He wants Iago to suffer a painful death
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Race cannot be considered a theme in the same way that jealousy and love are themes but it must be considered.
- Othello's racial identity is undefined but being an outsider makes him vulnerable to Iago's machinations.
- Before Othello, Black characters in Elizabethan drama were often villains; the presentation of a noble Moor was new.
- Imagery of black and white, light and dark is regular, suggesting colour is important in the play.
Common misconception
Othello acts in the way he does simply due to his hamartia: jealousy.
We must interrogate why Othello is targeted by Iago, how his outsider status makes him more susceptible to manipulation and insecurity.
Keywords
Dislocate - move something from its place or position
Prejudice - an unfair opinion about a person or a group not based on actual evidence
Xenophobia - extreme dislike or fear of foreigners
Insular - ignorant of cultures, ideas or people outside of one’s own experience
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