Othello - William Shakespeare

...we need to know about Othello can be found in Act 1 Scene 3 by analysing the scene carefully to show how it prepares us for the rest of the play. What issues are raised in this scene? How does Shakespeare make this scene dramatic?

Othello is a play written by William Shakespeare that he wrote between the years 1601 and 1605. It was written between his two plays Measure for Measure and Macbeth, which was another tragedy similar to Othello. ...
...or simply exploring his creativity. Othello was first performed in the Globe Theatre in London.

The original Globe Theatre was very unique, unlike modern day theatres. Although Shakespeare's plays were performed at other venues during his career, the Globe Theatre in the Southwark district of London was the venue at which Shakespeare's best known plays (including his four tragedies) were first produced. The Globe was built in 1599 ... more

Below is the english essay I wrote on the Shakespeare play Othello, this is one of my better works and I recieved a very high mark for my efforts. Although it does not cover the whole play it does answer the question set and anlayses the play in detail.

Everything we need to know about Othello can be found in Act 1 Scene 3 by analysing the scene carefully to show how it prepares us for the rest of the play. What issues are raised in this scene? How does Shakespeare make this scene dramatic?

Othello is a play written by William Shakespeare that he wrote between the years 1601 and 1605. It was written between his two plays Measure for Measure and Macbeth, which was another tragedy similar to Othello. Because two tragedies being written simultaneously some may say this had something to do with Shakespeare’s mentality during the years in which he wrote these plays, he may have been unhappy at the time, or simply exploring his creativity. Othello was first performed in the Globe Theatre in London.

The original Globe Theatre was very unique, unlike modern day theatres. Although Shakespeare's plays were performed at other venues during his career, the Globe Theatre in the Southwark district of London was the venue at which Shakespeare's best known plays (including his four tragedies) were first produced. The Globe was built in 1599 by one of his associates and friends, Cuthbert Burbage.

Shakespeare had some successes in the early years of the 1590s with the three parts of Henry VI, The Comedy of Errors and Richard III, but between 1592 and 1593 the plague struck London meaning there was no audience at the theatres, causing Shakespeare to leave from the playwright's trade to the composition of poetry. It was in 1594 when the theatres of London, including the Globe Theatre, reopened that Shakespeare returned to his old job of play writing. Five years prior to the Globe's opening, Shakespeare became one of the share-owning partners in a theatre company organized by Lord Chamberlain. Appearing as "Chamberlain's Men," Shakespeare's acting and Production Company dominated the London theatre scene during both the last decade of 1500 and in 1603.

The theatre that Cuthbert Burbage built for the Chamberlain's Men had room for between 2,000 and 3,000 audience members, because there was no lighting equipment all performances at the Globe were performed, weather permitting, during day light (probably most often in the mid-afternoon between 2 P.M. and 5 P.M.). Because most of the Globe and all of its stage area was open air, acoustics were poor and the actors were forced by the bad circumstances to shout their lines, stress their lines, and engage in exaggerated gestures. However what would seem most unusual to a modern theatre audience about the productions at the Globe is that there was no background scenery. Although costumes and props were used, changes of scene in Shakespeare's plays were not split up by curtain closings, there were no curtains, and no scenery other than the actors themselves. Instead, changes of scene were indicated in the speeches.

The stage of the Globe was a level platform, 43 feet in width, was raised about five feet off the ground. The stage was fitted with a number of mechanisms (trap doors in its floor for example), and standing out sections (e.g., a sub-stage space toward its back for double action) that were creatively used by Shakespeare in his stage directions. It was surrounded on three sides by the "pit" in which "one-penny" spectators stood and there was also a higher stand three stories high, each having a gallery and seating for "two-penny" theatregoers. While the galleries of the two-penny section may have been partially covered, the stage and the pit were open air. On the fourth side of the stage was a "tiring" house, where costumes changes were made. It was connected to the stage by a small turret, from which a flag would fly and a trumpeter would announce the day's performances. The stage was built so uniquely meaning that all spectators would be able to see the performance from where ever they stood or sat.

The actors were all male regardless of the role being a women or a man, and white men also portrayed people of different race, for example in Othello the character Othello, a black man, would have been played by a white man with black make up on (this tradition still went on as late as the 1970’s as a white man portrayed a black man in Lawrence Oliver version of Othello), however after the restoration women were used in performances, although it was still frowned upon. Queen Elizabeth was seen as a strong women ruler and a powerful role model which smashed the stereotypes of women being inferior to men in many respects and but even still men still played women in plays. In the early theatres there were professional actors, the performance weren’t often professional actors and all actors had a separate day job.

Before the Play House was built plays were performed in Inn yards, big houses and busy streets. After the playhouse was built the plague struck London, forcing all the Theatres to shut down, with the intentions of opening after the plague had been vanquished, however before they could re-open the play houses were seen in very bad light and were not able to re-open until 1660.

During the time this play was written black people or “moors” were banned from Britain unless they were slaves. This is because before the 1950’s there were no equal rights for human beings. People of any other colour than white were seen as inferior and as barbaric (which when translated from Latin means someone who cannot speak a language). This is the stereotypical view most people had of black people at the time, however discrimination was accepted in society and was not questioned, and so because it was not a crime to be prejudice against black people, because at the time black people had no rights.

The play itself is set in Venice for the first act and for the rest of the play it is set in Cyprus. Both of these places had a bad reputation, they were deemed deceitful places full of decadent people and this is the opinion that British audiences in 1600 would have had of the places and people in them.

The plot of Othello is one of manipulation, and is categorised as a tragedy. The outline of the story is that a Moor serving as a general in the military of Venice is victimized as a result of his love for Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian statesman. The villain of the play is Iago; a military man who plots revenge against Othello, Desdemona and Michael Cassio because Othello promoted Cassio to lieutenant, a position which Iago feels he is entitled. Ultimately it is a play of manipulation destroying innocence and goodness, and people being who they aren’t.

The plot’s main theme seems to be trying to get the message across that more times than not, people are not what they seem to be. Another aspect of the play that adds to the theme of the play is the way Othello is treated; the play does not use the stereotypical black person’s image back in the 1600’s. Instead it breaks the stereotype and present Othello as being honest, clever (I say clever as during his speech to the courts in the first act he manipulates them into thinking he is being modest and lowly when he is speaking like an intelligent person) and a little naïve, this again reinforces the view of people aren’t what they seem to be. This stage metaphor of people not being what they seem was very popular in plays during Elizabethan times. The play writers were trying to put the message across that everything everyone does is simply an act of types; no-one ever shows their true form.

Another theme in this play is that all people care about is reputations. For example Iago wants revenge on Othello because Othello choose Michael Cassio over him and thus damaged Iago reputation. Othello has to keep up his reputation because as soon as he looses his reputation he will loose his job, and because of his colour if he looses his job he will be thrown to the side by the society he is fighting for, he will be seen as an outsider to the republic of Venice no matter what he does for their country. A less obvious theme to the play is the message that jealous can destroy anything, although I think this is a message Shakespeare was stressing as being very important especially the message of how subtle jealous can be.

Othello’s naïve ways take advantage of him when he is convinced that Iago is honest and trustworthy while Iago is convincing everyone Othello is barbaric and the stereotypical black monster people thought he was. This is a very obvious use of irony by William Shakespeare that occurs in several of his other plays such as Macbeth.

Othello is a tragedy; it is a tragedy as the hero and main character of the play meets his death. The audience needs to be able to sympathise with the person who has died and so the play must make the audience care about the main characters. Another common twist in tragedies was that normal someone innocent died so as it was easier to make the audience feel sad about the death, in Othello Desdemona is that said character as she represents innocence. Tragedies have been performed for hundreds of years and they first orientated from the ancient Greeks who used plays such as Ocidipus and Rex (both of these were written by Sophocles). These plays were very popular with people like philosophers (for example Aristotle was meant to have said that he thought these were good plays.) The plot of tragedy is normally centred on characters unintentionally trying to escape fate or characters being unaware that they were running towards death.

Each character has a certain identity which sets them apart from every other character in the play.

Iago sets himself as an outsider and plots against everyone else. The play is written so as no other character sees the real side of Iago, and Iago makes sure that the audience knows he represents evil as he confides his motives in the audience. This means the audience does not see Iago as a hero and dislike him.

Desdemona is vital to Othello’s role, and she helps break the stereotypical view of Moors the audience might have had. She is the only pure character in the play as she is completely sinless during the play she does not do a single thing that is wrong or shameful.

Cassio is another outsider (like Othello) but he is accepted more by most people, he relies on his image of power to keep himself accepted, just like Othello. His image of power means he has to keep a high profile in society to keep his status as if he lost his status then he would also loose a great deal of his power and acceptance in society.

The scene I shall be studying in detail is Act 1 Scene 3. The scene opens in a Council Chamber in which the Duke of Venice and the Senators are sitting around a table. They are discussing the imposing war with Cyprus; although this has no significance in the play it gives the play a little historical background and adds to the depth of the play. It also shows us a little of what the Venice authorities are like. The stage imagery is one of importance, the fact that the Duke is sitting at the tables, with the Senators around him and the Officers around the Senators is a hierarchy, which is also one of the play’s theme. The idea of hierarchy in the Council Chamber is a metaphor for the whole play being a case of that you have no power without status.

The arrival of Brabantio, Othello, Iago, and Roderigo has an impact on the meeting and the focus of the scene changes dramatically. Brabantio appears to be aggressive, but the Court still treat him with respect, choosing to listen to him. Brabantio speaks of his daughter as if she is a possession several times during his speech.

“She is abused, stol’n from me.”

This is just one example of Brabantio speaking about Desdemona as if he owns her. Although this was a common view in the time in which this play was set, it really does show Brabantio’s true character in which all he cares about is possessions and reputation. He sees Desdemona marrying Othello, as Othello stealing his possession.

Proof that the Council is a fair committee they give Othello the opportunity to speak his defence. He gives a speech in which, again he breaks the stereotype of a Moor (the first time being when he is in the bar in the first act and appears gentle and clever). He speaks in a polite and formal manor, e.g. when he says,

“Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not”

Even though he says before his speech,

“Rude am I in my speech.”

He does not mean this but is simply playing on the council’s expectations of him as a black person. This is Shakespeare changing the audience’s perspective of a Moor at that time by giving a black person more depth than a Moor had been shown to have in earlier plays. Othello’s lines are written to keep to the plays theme by putting on a front and not showing his true self. This was one of the very first plays that had a black person with a large amount of depth and intelligence, I think Shakespeare hoped to be creating something quite ground breaking when he wrote this play. Othello’s use of language means he appears humble and not over confident, but at the same time very intelligent and civil.

Desdemona’s speech in which she defends Othello is needed to settle the problem between Othello and Brabantio, at least in the Council’s eyes. She is brought in to speak to the council. Like Othello, Desdemona plays to the Council and her father in the way she speaks as she says things such as,

“To you I am bound for life and education.”

She says this to her father. She again changes the way she behaviours and the way she acts so as the council and her father will favour her and her reputation won’t be damaged. She comes across as intelligent and yet not over confident. She uses this language to persuade the court that her relationship and marriage with Othello is out of her free will and that their relationship is not one of evil. She uses her speech as a visual aid to the court and to make them see, through imagery, that their relationship is something of beauty and not something grotesque.

Brabantio’s reaction is Desdemona’s speech is one of bitterness, and grief. He warns Othello that just like Desdemona did to him, that she will betray him.

“Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
She has deceived her father, and may thee.”

This has dramatic importance in the play as later on in the play when Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona has cheated on him with Michael Cassio. Othello then remembers this warning when he believes that Desdemona is having a affair, and he sees irony in the warning. This irony that becomes more obvious as the play goes on. Brabantio feels a great loss and shame upon his family when he hears his only daughter has chosen to marry a Moor. He feels his reputation could be at risk with his daughter marrying a black man, especially if he has black grandchildren. He even goes as far as saying,

“I am glad at soul I have no other child.”

This reaction from Brabantio is quite a vivid image; even for a modern audience in the 21st century this would still be seen as a very strong thing to say. This again means that the audience favour Othello over Brabantio.

Othello’s speech along with Desdemona’s contradict what they are saying and doing. Othello speaks very formally and yet he says he speaks like a commoner, he also manipulates the court into feeling pity for him when he speaks of his days as a slave. Othello paints a picture for the court that shows him how they want to see him and not how he really is. The Duke’s acceptance of the speech means that the rest of the court has to also accept it, along with the audience. Desdemona’s speech justifies Othello’s speech. Because she supports Othello and yet sympathizes with her father she seems to support both sides of the argument, meaning she can’t be criticized.

However Othello and Desdemona’s relationship with the court is unstable, as Othello knows that as soon as Othello looses his usefulness in the army that he will be thrown to one side by the country that Othello has fought for. He will be labelled as a barbarian even though it was barbarians that he fought against for Venice. In his final speech just before he kills himself he talks of the irony of fighting for a foreign country against his own race, and being accepted by neither side.
In the final parts of the scene Iago and Roderigo talk together by themselves. Roderigo is feeling suicidal as he loves Desdemona, and he can’t be with her. Iago manages to talk Roderigo out of suicide but manipulates him into plotting against Othello. It affects the way the audience will view the rest of the play, especially the characters, and it determines the facts of who is good and evil in the audiences mind. The theme of deception, which runs throughout the whole play, is first fully present here and is made very obvious. It makes sure that Iago is shown to be a manipulative evil man.

This scene sets up the rest of the play to be a tale of deceit, people acting and not being themselves, and the power of status and reputation. The theme of manipulation on Iago’s behalf is built up to be one of the focal points of the play, with the message that manipulation will win and that evil can over come goodness. Interestingly Shakespeare chooses not to go with the typical ending of good over powering evil, instead he shows that evil can win, but with unforeseen consequences. In the final act Iago convinces Othello to kill Desdemona; Othello then plots to kill Desdemona and eventually kills her. When it is exposed that Iago had been plotting against Othello, Othello kills himself and Iago is slain. This is typical end for a tragedy with two characters who the audience care about (Othello and Desdemona) losing their life.

Shakespeare also uses themes of people being dependant on reputation throughout the play. Maybe Shakespeare’s uses his play to put across how he felt society was and how it should be. His views on society and how people behave are quite apparent during this play. He doesn’t decide to change the play because of his feelings of how people will react and even though the theme of the play is quite controversial. I think this is a strong way of presenting his opinion rather than if he had a play in which people weren’t dependant on their reputation.

This scene sets up the rest of the play well. It shows the audience who the good and evil characters are. It also sets up certain themes, such as Brabantio’s warning to Othello about Desdemona betraying him. It is also the first time in the play in which the main themes are apparent, how reputation is the most important factor of life for some people, how manipulative people can be without anyone noticing, and also about how people judge each other based on their status, and that political stance is everything. These are all the main themes of the play which Shakespeare is trying to get across to the audience. This scene is one of the most important in the play, and sets up every other theme in the rest of the play.

The above essay is my work and is copyrighted by me so please qoute me if using it.

Thanks for reading. 

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