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Transcript

Themes in Othello

Jealousy

Racism

Appearance and reality

Inequalities between women and men

Emilia states that jealousy is a phantom and that "jealous souls are not ever jealous for the cause/But jealous for they're jealous." (3.4, 155-8).

There is no reason for the characters to believe that any of their jealous suppositions are true. But jealousy is always on the lookout for clues and doesnt need much evidence . It is even more likely to see what it fears if the subject is primed with lies.

Othello only has to see Cassio laughing to assume he's discussing Desdemona and he only has to see her hesitate when trying to find the whereabouts of the hanker chief to feel an upsurge of jealous rage.

Othello is a North African Moor who would have been an unusual but not completely unknown sight in Shakespeare's time. Blackmoor characters occasionally appear in Roman tragedy and were likely to identified as colour coded villains. It is therefore interesting that Othello is honourable and recognized as a trusted Venetian military leader.

Brabantio and Iago are overtly racist towards Othello.

* The play raises many issues but most of them stem from a fundamental thematic concept- the relationship between appearance and reality in shaping human understanding and relationships.

* The play encourages us to think about how things look on the surface as opposed to the truth of the matter.

* Iago manages to keep up his appearnce and knows exactl what to say to each person to ensure that his cover is not destroyed.

Emilia was not alone in expressing forthright views about men being as responsible as women for good behaviour. (Act 4. 3) Elizabethan England was known to allow women to live a comparatively free life to those in Catholic Europe at the time. Like Desdemona, most European women would have lived under strict supervision of their parents and until they were passed onto their husbands.

The exchange between Emilia and Desdemona highlights the two differing female viewpoints.

Reputation

Trust and relationships

What can we learn from Othello?

During Shakespeare's time, reputation went beyond the regulation of one's personal behaviour to avoid public scandal. It indicated self esteem tied up with the seteem of others as an ongoing public evaluation of one's worth. It was one of the princely virtues, indicative of leadership with moderation and fairness, inseparable from its companion idea of 'honour'.

For a woman, reputation went beyond having a good name for keeping oneself sexually honourable and was related to a much greater ideal of 'virtue', a cluster of traits that attracted respect.

Othello explores the tragic outcome of quite reasonably putting trust in a person accounted by pretty well everybody to be 'honest'. Every lie that Iago tells goes unquestioned because he is known to be honest: the epithet is repeated throughout the play by every character he encounters and, most fundamentally, is how Othello habitually defends him for daring to speak up in a difficult situation.

Desdemona trusts Othello completely and Cassio. Othello loses his trust in Desdemona despite being powerfully sure of her trust at the beginning of the play.

Roderigo also trusts Iago and is labelled as a 'gull'd gentlemen'.

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