Brainstorming - Othello Website
Brainstorming - Othello Website
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Requirements:
● Characterization ● The Problem
● Suspense ○ Denouement
● Tone ○ Recognition
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● Setting
MUST include three embedded videos of MY creation (at least two minutes long).
● Title ● Button
● Text ● Document
● Image ● Videos
● Gallery ● File
● Map
Your website must have at least 5 pages other than the home page.
INCLUDE Symbaloo!
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Characterization … Iago
● REPRESENTATIVE ARTWORK
○ Pictures of Satan
○ Puppetmaster
○ SOLILOQUIES
■ “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse … I hate the Moor … I know not
if’t be true but I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety.”
(I.3.377 - 384)
■ “If I can fasten but one cup upon him, with that which he hath drunk
■ “For ‘tis most easy Th’inclining Desdemona to subdue in any honest suit.
Characters
Major Characters
● Othello
○ Othello is a major character in the play who, through his own insecurities
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mistake friendly intentions for infidelity. As the general of the Venetian
● Iago
causes problems for all of the other characters in the play. He is selfish,
jealous, and devious, but he is able to cleverly channel these feelings into
elaborate plans and tactics. He has no regard for other people except
● Desdemona
retains her graceful demeanor and kindness. Since the start of the play
where Othello and Desdemona married each other, their love dared to
stand against anything. Her and Othello were both strongly in love
manipulations.
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● Cassio
heart, Cassio was manipulated by Iago to commit bad decisions under the
ploy to convince Othello that Cassio was trying to sleep his wife. Cassio
had not discovered Iago's plans until it was too late, and he played a major
● Bianca
prostitute.
● Roderigo
multitude of "foolish" acts, with his primary motivation being his love for
● Emilia
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○ Emilia is the attendant to Desdemona and wife to Iago. She seems to be
love and marriage, and this shows through the advice she provides for
wife, however, as she does attempt to get into the room as Othello
suffocates Desdemona.
Minor Characters
● Brabantio
with Othello for eloping without his blessing. This leads to Othello’s trial
○ The Duke of Venice leads Venice, overseeing trials and military decisions.
He oversees Othello’s trial and sends him, the general of the Venetian
army, to Cyprus.
● Montano
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○ Montano is the governor of Cyprus. He gets involved with Cassio after
Cassio gets drunk, and he appears at the end of the play to “tie off the
loose ends” of the events that unfolded regarding Iago, Othello, Cassio,
ambassadors of Venice, and serve their role at the end of the story by
Round Character
EXAMPLE: Othello is a perfect example of a round character. At the beginning of the play,
Othello was a man known for his steadfastness in battle. Though a racial outsider, he held a
commanding presence that also worked to draw certain people, like Brabantio and Desdemona,
to his side. However, as Iago applied his manipulations, Othello gradually caved in. He started
to lose his eloquence, allowing his insecurities to take the best of him. By the end of the play,
Othello had fallen from grace. Realizing his own mistakes only after murdering his wife, Othello
kills himself in regret of his actions.
Flat Character
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Suspense
● VIDEO
● VIDEO
Mood
Find particularly well-written passages that represent the atmosphere or emotional effect
generated by the work.
Mood - a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words or
descriptions.
● “For whiles this honest fool / Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes / And she for him
pleads strongly to the Moor, / I’ll pour pestilence into his ear: / That she repeals him for
her body’s lust, / And by how much she strives to do him good, / She shall undo her
credit with the Moor. / So will I turn her virtue into pitch, / And out of her own goodness
make the net / That shall enmesh them all.” (II.3.343-352)
○ MOOD: Vengeful and scheming. You can feel his “evil intent”.
● “This fellow’s of exceeding honesty, / And knows all qualities with a learned spirit / Of
human dealings. If I do prove her haggard, / Though that her jesses were my dear
heart-strings, / I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind / To prey at fortune. Haply,
for I am black / And have not those soft parts of conversation / Into the vale of years - yet
that’s not much - / She’s gone: I am abused, and my relief / Must be to loathe her. O,
curse of marriage! / That we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their
appetites! I had rather be a toad / And live upon the vapour of a dungeon / Than keep a
corner in the thing I love / For others’ uses. Yet ‘tis the plague of great ones; / ‘Tis
destiny unshunnable, like death: / Even then this forked plague is fated to us / When we
do quicken.” (III.3.255 - 274)
○ MOOD: Agonizing and doubtful. Othello’s insecurities show.
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Motif
Identify multiple motifs that trace themselves throughout the work and heighten its appeal
through its appearances.
Motif - an object, idea, or concept recurring throughout a literary work. It normally has a
symbolic meaning that contributes to the development of an overall theme of the work.
● Satan
○ “Arise … Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you.” (I.1.92)
○ “Hell and night / Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.” (I.3.397 -
398)
● Animals
○ Toad
■ “I had rather be a toad / And live upon the vapour of a dungeon / Than
keep a corner in the thing I love / For others’ uses.” (III.3.267-270)
○ Barbary Horse
■ “Because we come to do you / service, and you think we are ruffians,
you’ll have your / daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you’ll have your
/ nephews neigh to you, you’ll have coursers for cousins, / and jennets for
germans.” (I.1.112 - 114)
○ Black Ram and White ewe
■ “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe.”
(I.1.89 - 90)
○ Beast
■ “I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter / and the Moor are
now making the beast with two backs.” (I.1.117)
The Problem
● VIDEO
○ Screencast a slide show DESCRIBING everything!
● After his appointment as “Ancient”, Iago builds a resentment towards Othello and
Cassio. Othello is resented for appointing Cassio to lieutenant instead of Iago. As a
result, Iago also despises Cassio for taking the position he believes is rightfully his. He
also hears of a rumor that Cassio had slept with his wife, Emilia.
○ With this animosity, Iago schemes to ruin the lives of Othello and Iago.
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Complications
Climax
● Entirety of Act V
○ Iago manipulates Roderigo to kill Cassio … Iago kills Roderigo
○ Othello suffocates Desdemona.
Denouement
● Othello was to be taken in, but he pulls out a “secret knife” and commits suicide, dying
next to his wife in bed.
● Iago was captured by Lodovico and Gratiano awaiting execution in Venice.
Recognition
Reversal
Setting
● Set in the 16th century, the events of Othello take place on the island of Venice. While a
civil and strong society, Venice had its reputation as a hub for prostitution. At this time, it
was seen as a more culturally-accepting state as it allowed a Moor such as Othello to
rise to a station of power.
● Without these distinctions, “Othello” could not be “Othello”. The society Venice provides
helps to affect many characters’ decisions in the play, such as how Cassio made the
decision to drink despite having “very poor and unhappy brains for drinking” (2.3.31)
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Tone
Identify the writer’s tone, his attitude towards his subject, his audience, and himself.
● The tone in “O thello” is highly cynical and distrusting. This is mainly seen through Iago’s
manipulations. As the play progresses, virtuous and trusting characters such as Cassio
and Othello are affected by Iago’s world view. Iago distrusts everyone and wants
everything for himself. Despite his nastiness, however, Iago’s schemes still prevail in the
end.
● Through Iago’s actions, Shakespeare shows how in the real world, men will always end
up giving in to their temptations, fears, and desires. While everyone wants this to not be
the case, Shakespeare snaps his audience back into reality with a play where the “bad
guy” wins. Although the concept is sarcastic and almost unfair, he realizes and
emphasizes the nature of man.
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