Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare.

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Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare

Kind of Play

  • Verse drama – a dramatic/theatrical work (written predominantly in verse but prose features too)
  • Shakespeare and his contemporaries tried to imitate Greek and Roman drama. This was a period of time when there was a great interest in the classical civilizations of the west, particularly ancient Greece and Rome. During this period termed as the Renaissance, there was a great revival in learning and flowering of the arts and music.
  • There is an audible distinction between both prose and verse and the audience of Shakespeare’s times would have had easily differentiated them.
  • Verse was generally used by aristocrats, nobles and people of the higher class. Verse was also used for elevated subject matter.
  • On the other hand prose was generally used by the people of the lower class and for low subject matters.
  • Othello is a tragedy (see notes for tragedy). A tragic hero in a tragic play is noble by birth and noble by nature, but as the play progresses the tragic hero must proceed from a high point to a low point. The downfall is usually attributed to a tragic flaw in character. Also the principle intention of a tragedy is to evoke a catharsis from the audience.
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To Note: Shakespeare almost never strictly adhered to the traditional rules/conventions of a tragedy. Of what significance is his rebellion towards the conventions of a tragedy? What does it achieve in his plays?

 

Social Context of the Play

-England was very insular, and travel was difficult. England had little contact with the civilizations outside of Europe. Only a few Englishmen such as Sir Francis Drake became explorers, compared to the numerous Dutch and Portuguese explorers in the 1500s and 1600s. The English like most of the other Europeans were rather eurocentric in their views and Europe to them represented ...

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