Othello - Context

Othello - Context

1. Setting

   • context
     • Religion
       • The preoccupation with good and evil underlines the play's religious context
       • Desdemona is linked to good through the use of references to heaven. Iago is linked to evil through references to hell and the devil.
       • Othello has converted to Christianity and subscribes to Christian values. He knows he is damned in the final moments of the play
       • Iago has atheistic attitudes. He says men are in control of their own fates, "tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus"(l.3.320)
     • Race
       • During the Renaissance many believed black people were fit only to be slaves. Shakespeare subverts this view in his depiction of his noble moor
       • Othello is a racial 'outsider' in Venice but Shakespeare stresses his noble origins and his power and status as a mercenary general
       • Othello only behaves as the stereotype of the lustful, murderous black man when he is corrupted by Iago
       • Usually in Renaissance drama black men and moors were portrayed negatively; Othello is the first black hero
   • Venice was associated with power, romance and high culture, an appropriate setting for the Othello-Desdemona love match
   • Italy was associated with villainy, decadence and corruption, and frequently used as a setting for plays on such themes. The duchess of Malfi and 'Tis pity she's a whore both explore these themes. Iago personifies these stereotypical Italian vices
   • The isolation of and threats to the Cyprus setting symbolise the isolation of and threats to Desdemona and Othello
   • The use of military setting for a play about marriage underlines the conflict Othello faces when trying to combine love and work

2. Patriarchy

   • Renaissance women were subordinate to men and were ruled by them.
   • Legally, women were the possessions of men, so Renaissance fathers and husbands often treated their daughters and wives as objects to be used as they saw fit
   • Assertive women were considered a threat to the social order. Desdemona asserts her right to live with Othello, but never challenges his authority over her
   • Shakespeare's positive portrayal of Emilia suggests assertiveness in a women is not always a threat to patriarchy

3. 5 links to other Shakespeare plays

   • Many Renaissance and Jacobean plays focus on the tragic consequences of doomed love eg Romeo and Juliet
   • Marriage is usually a central theme in comedy. A midsummers nights dream is typical, focusing on courtship and marriage. Marriage proves a 'happy ending' in comedy
   • Villains are often cynical atheists, who use others for their own ends. Ambitious Edmund in King Lear exploits women in the same way as Iago
   • Dramatists often explore evil through the presentation of sexual corruption. In Hamlet Claudius poisons his brother and marries his widow, Gertrude