OTHELLO (1603)

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
ENGL IICP
*Adapted from “Introduction to Othello”
 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
• Born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England

• Known as The Bard

• Most likely began as an actor

• Wrote 38 plays, including comedies, histories,

tragedies, and romances

• Wrote 4 lengthy poems and a sonnet cycle

 THE TRAGEDY
• Protagonist: Othello
• General for Venetian Army
• Moor
• Tragic Hero; Tragic Flaw = Jealousy, Gullibility
• Antagonist: Iago
• Ancient (Flag bearer)
• Inferior to Othello
• Incredibly jealous, hateful
• Setting
• Venice
• To Elizabethans, Italians were wicked, murderous, and morally loose
 THE BIG IDEAS
• Jealousy
• Appearance vs. Reality
• Society’s Treatment of the “Outsider”
 VOCABULARY
• Janus: Roman god; gatekeeper over every entrance/departure, door, and
passageway; two-faced
• Cuckold: husband to a wife who is unfaithful
• In media res: Latin for “in the midst of things;” narrative begins in the middle
of the action
• Epilepsy: neurological disorder; unpredictable seizures
• Soliloquy: speech given to oneself; expresses thoughts/desires
• Monologue: speech given by single person to an audience