This document provides background information on William Shakespeare's play Othello. It summarizes the key plot points and characters of the tragedy, which centers around the titular character Othello and his jealousy and betrayal by Iago. The document also provides context about Elizabethan theatre and performances of Othello during Shakespeare's lifetime.

1. OTHELLO
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

2. 1564 Birth in Stratford-upon-Avon
in Stratford, England
1582 Marriage with Anne
Hathaway
1604 Othello is penned, being
performed on November the 1st
at Whitehall.
1610. Othello is performed at
Oxford College by the King’s
Men during a summer tour.
1612-1613. The King’s men
perform Othello and Julius
Caesar amongst others in this
year.
1616. Death on April 23rd, his
burial being recorded in the
Stratford Holy Church Register
two days later.
He wrote 37 plays and 154
sonnets
Nickname- The Bard

3. THE WILLOW SONG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iYm2MQWPUA

4. ACT I
Scene I
 Roderigo and Iago have an arguement
 Reason for Iago’s hatred is Othello’s recent promotion of
Michael Cassio to the post of lieutenant
 Iago is serving Othello only for his own interests
 They seek revenge by rousing Desdemona’s family
against the general
 Roderigo and Iago inform Brabantio of Desdemona’s
secret marriage to Othello
 Enraged, Brabantio sets out in search of his daughter

5. ACT I
Scene II
 Scene takes place near Othello’s house
 Iago warns Othello that Brabantio is searching for him
 Cassio brings a suons from the duke demanding Othello’s
presence on a matter of urgent state business
 Brabantio accuses Othello of abducting Desdemona
and wants him to be arrested
 There is almost a fight between Othello’s and Brabantio’s
men but Othello brings the confrontation to a halt

6. ACT I
Scene III
 The duke is told about the threatened Turkish invasion of
Cyprus
 He listens to Brabantios accusation and Othello’s
defence and sends for Desdemona to find out who is
right
 Othello is ordered to go to Cyprus and Desdemona may
join him
 Roderigo is desperate because he realizies that he’ll
never win Desdemona’s love, but Iago has a plan to help
him.

7. IMPORTANT QUOTES
Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.
In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so for my peculiar end.
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.

8. IMPORTANT QUOTES
But here’s my husband,
And so much duty as my mother showed
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.

9. ACT III
SCENE I
 Cassio brings musicians to serenade Desdemona
 He asks Emilia to help him get access to Desdemona

10. ACT III
SCENE II
 Iago, Othello, and a gentleman walk together at the
citadel
 Othello gives Iago some letters to deliver to Venice
 He then leaves his quarters to inspect the island’s
fortifications

11. ACT III
SCENE III
 Desdemona promises Cassio that she will intercede for him
 Desdemona asks Othello to and reinstate Cassio as
lieutenant
 Iago sows suspicions in Othello’s mind until the Moor is
conivinced that Desdemona is unfaithful to him
 Emilia gives Othello’s handkerchief to her husband, who
places it in Cassio’s room
 Othello finds it and and flies into a rage, but asks for clearer
evidence
 By the end of the scene he swears that he will be revenged
and orders Iago to kill Cassio
 Iago is promoted to lieutenant by Othello

12. ACT III
Scene IV
 Othello asks Desdemona for his handkerchief, but she
wants to talk about Cassio
 Othello leaves in a rage
 Cassio and Iago enter, and Cassio immediately
continues with his suit to Desdemona for help
 Cassio shows Bianca the handkerchief he found in his
room and asks her to copy its embroidery

13. IMPORTANT QUOTES
Haply for I am black,
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have; or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that’s not much—
She’s gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu7FgXSD_Vg&feature=r
elated

14. ACT V
Scene I
 Roderigo lies in wait for Cassio
 In the fight both, Roderigo and Cassio, are wounded
 Othello hears them and thinks that Iago has murdered
Cassio as promised
 Now he wants to do the same to Desdemona
 Lodovico and Grantiano hasten to see what is the
matter, Iago appears as well and stabbs Roderigo
 “This is the fruits of whoring”
 Iago takes control of the situation, sending Emilia back to
Othello and Desdemona

15. ACT V
Scene II
 Othello comes to Desdemona’s bed-
chamber, determined to kill her
 Desdemona pleads for innocence but Othello doesn’t
believe her
 He covers her head with a pillow and suffocates her
 Emilia comes in and brings the news of the death
Roderigo and the fighting
 When she sees the dead Desdemona she raises the
alarm
 Iago, Gratiano and Montano enter the room
 Emilia denounces Iago, who draws his sword on her and
escapes
 Othello stabs himself, Iago is taken away to be tortured

16. 16TH-CENTURY
ELIZABETHAN THEATRE
 Religious groups condemned theater for the immorality in
the plays.
 All of society attended the theater, including royalty.
 Plays were meant to be performed-- not seen as
literature, therefore only rough copies of Shakespeare’s
plays survive today.
 Only men were actors at the time, even for female roles.

17. OTHELLO
 Play’s protagonist and hero
 Moorish prince living in Venice
 General in the Venetian Army
 Very powerful and respected figure
 However, he is very insecure and jealous
 Kills Desdemona in the end because of jealousy
 Commits suicide

18. CASSIO
 Othello’s lieutenant
 Honourable Florentine
 Likes women and alcohol
 Unjustly accused of having an affair with Desdemona
 In the end he outsmarts everyone by foiling his own
murder

19. IAGO
 Othello’s ancient and a professional soldier
 Snake in the grass
 Misuses Othello’s trust, abuses Roderigo
for his own profit
 Fools Desdemona and kills his own wife
 Regards women as things
 Main motives are greed and envy
 Considers love as "merely a lust of the blood and
permission of the will” and virtue as a “fig” that is soon
rotted
 Embodiment of evil

20. THE GLOBE THEATRE
 Shakespeare’s theater group constructed The Globe, an
open-air round theatre.
 The original theatre burned in 1613. A new Globe
Theatre was built in London in 1997.

21. JEALOUSY
Iago:
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger:
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
Othello:
O misery!

22. THE HANDKERCHIEF