Othello: Language, Form, Structure

Othello: Language, Form, Structure

1. Imagery

   • Colour - darkness etc.
   • Animal - ram/ewe, Othello uses it more as he becomes more like Iago
   • Disease/poison - associated with corruption, Iago's manipulation
   • Hell - Iago and his deception, racial slur

2. Irony

   • Creates suspense and adds interest
     • Dramatic - audience knows Desdemona is innocent throughout
     • Verbal - 'Honest Iago', Iago's warning of jealousy when those are his intentions
   • Cassio wanted dead - only one not murdered
   • Dramatic irony makes audience feel a part of the play

3. Writing Style

   • Mostly iambic pentameter/blank verse - used by noble characters
   • Characters lower on social scale - prose
   • Othello's blank verse establishes heroism, authority, intelligence
   • Iago slips between prose and verse - adapts to different audiences/purposes

4. Repetition

   • Othello's langauge repetition to emphasis message
   • Repetition of key themes
   • Builds suspense e.g. before/after Desdemona death

5. Opposites

   • Black/white - Othello/Desdemona linked with evil/good
   • Good/evil - perceived evil of Othello as outsider, goodness of Desdemona etc, Othello see self as 'honourable murderer'
   • Innocence/experience - Desdemona/Emilia view of fidelity, naive characters/Iago
   • Light/dark - bad things done in the dark 'put out the light', final murders, drunken brawl etc. Light - Des' purity
   • Appearance/reality - Iago, Desdemona

6. Personification

   • For jealousy - 'green eyed monser'
   • To add to drama and emphasise themes