Jealous Love- Othello

Othello- William Shakespeare

Summary:

The tale of the eponymous Othello, a black general who marries a white woman, and his subordinate officer Iago. Othello's marriage challenges the prejudices and conventions of Renaissance society, allowing Iago to spin a complicated web of lies and deceptions that corrupts Othello and leads to tragedy. (source: Sophie's Desk). It was published in 1602 (Elizabethan times).

Theme and Analysis: 

It is pretty clear that through Othello, there are many themes which are quite prevalent (below), but there are other factors which you can bring up when you talk about this book, such as imagery, allusions and hamartia. The imagery which is associated with jealousy suggests the destructive, terrifying and almost unnatural qualities of this emotion, "The green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on." - Iago uses dramatic irony, when pretending to warn Othello not to be a jealous man. Othello's hamartia (downfall) is his jealous nature. He becomes ruthless, and will not have a piece of mind until Desdemona is dead. Some themes which I picked up on were:

-Forbidden Love: The relationship between Othello and Desdemona is clandestine because of Othello's racial origins.

-Jealous Love: There is a parallel in the jealousy between Iago and Othello. It is interesting that Iago uses jealousy against Othello, yet jealousy is likely the source of Iagos' hatred in the first place. It is, ultimately, destructive.

Important bits you can memorise: 

Possibly the best summary of Othello 

Jealousy in 'Othello'-  In Othello, the hero succumbs to jealousy when Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been an unfaithful wife- in the end, Othello murders his wife, but then kills himself upon realising she was innocent. In Othello, jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive. 
Quotes about this: "One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,/A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;/That never set a squadron in the field,/Nor the division of a battle knows/More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,Wherein the toged consuls can propose/As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,/Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:/And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof/At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds/Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd/By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,He, in good time, must his lieutenant be" Okay this is a bit lengthy, I know, but all its about is Iago frustrated that Cassio is promoted to a greater position than Iago, so he's jealous, pick and choose which part of his monologue you'd like to use- but its all pretty interesting. 

Sex in 'Othello'- Remember, this play is written in the Elizabethan times, and the common 16th century anxieties about miscegenation (interracial sex and marriage) are examined; a black man marries a white woman, gets mad and accuses her of cheating- and thus strangles her in bed. In Othello, most male characters simply assume that the women are extremely promiscuous, which explains why all three women in the play are accused of infidelity. It makes sense, how easily Othello is swayed by Iago into believing that his wife has had an affair. Also, and though I wouldn't look too deep into this factor, there is a homoerotic theme which can go about between Othello and Iago, but if you are deeply curious, look here.
Quotes about this: IAGO "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is topping your white ewe." If you have read the rest of this, its pretty self explanatory.

Tone and Analysis Overall

The entire tone of Othello is dominated by Iago's voice. It is cynical. It is paranoid. He is the only one in the play who speaks to the audience and has bitter rants about Othello and Cassio, his casual dismissal of women as worthless prostitutes... even Othello begins to mirror Iago's tone in his own rants about jealousy and sexual impurity. Also, its worth mentioning that the play is written in iambic pentameter. Which means you can draw your conclusions about how 'free' or 'restricted' the speaker might be... you've done English, you can figure that part out... its a good read, but a bit complicated to follow along, unless you're really into Shakespeare-talks... hope this helps!