Copy of Othello: Iago and Othello

Copy of Othello: Behind the Lines

Copy of Director Nicholas Hytner

Copy of Perspectives on Othello | Gregory Doran

Copy of Othello: Emilia and Desdemona

Copy of Exploring a Soliloquy

Copy of Exploring Scenes

Copy of What are Prose and Verse?

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thursDAY, march 29 (6)

Othello, 2.1

I hope you have a Happy Easter! I'd like you to read 2.2-2.3.1-153. Stop when Othello enters. Why does Iago try to get Cassio to say untoward things about Cassio? Does he actually need him to?

What kind of a situation does Iago find himself in? Keep track of what he needs everyone to do and how he tries to remain out of it.

Watch what went into staging the brawl in the 2013 NT production.

tuesday, april 3 (1)

Othello, 2.2-2.3.1-153

With the first draft of the final essay due on Monday, April 16, now's when you to take on the reading of the remainder of the play in your own time. You want to start reading ahead at a quicker pace so that you have the entire play finished by the time you sit down to write your draft. You can do it in one sitting, especially if you're following along with the production as I suggested. Continue tracing one idea in preparation for writing the essay just as we've done all year.

The nightly readings I post on the website will now indicate the short section we'll cover together in class the following day. So tomorrow, for instance, though you may be reading ahead, we'll cover the remainder of 2.3. How does Iago spring a trap for Cassio in this scene? What is Cassio most worried about after Othello strips him of his duties as lieutenant? In Iago's soliloquy, how are his motives growing in complexity?

wednesDAY, april 4 (2)

Othello, 2.3

Tonight you can skip the first 29.5 lines of 3.1. Swing and a miss, Mr. Shakespeare. But I do want you to pick up from the second half of line 29 and read through 3.2, into 3.3, stopping at line 93 (page 287). This is the beginning of the most carefully crafted scene I know. My favorite, in fact. What’s so important about it? Just look at the emotional distance that’s traveled by Othello:

FROM “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul / But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.” (3.3.90-2) TO “Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her! Damn her! / Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw / To furnish me with some swift means of death / For the fair devil.” (3.3.475-8)

He moves from claiming that the only way he couldn’t love Desdemona is if the world reverted back to the time before God created order. A virtual impossibility! And yet look what happens: By the end of the scene he’s sentencing her to hell after a speedy death by his own hand. It had to happen somehow. But how? Begin making a list of all of the strategies Iago uses against Othello.

thursDAY, april 5 (3)

Othello, 3.1-3.3.93

Tomorrow the focus will continue on the slow collapse of a remarkable character. Please re-read lines 94-174. Using our chess metaphor this is the first time Othello is put into check. Continue building that list of complicated tactics to capture Othello.

friday, april 6 (4)

Othello, 3.3.94-174

When we convene on Monday we'll continue working through 3.3, stopping at line 335. Is it Othello's innate insecurity that's causing such a change in him, Iago's manipulative power, or both?

monday, april 9 (5)

Othello, 3.3.175-335

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 (6)

Reviewing thesis statements one last time

Tonight you should print, read, and annotate this essay, "The Coddling of the American Mind." In the margin take notes on the essay's topic structure and readability.