Othello Act 4 s i

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

Global issue construction 

Considering Iago's skills at making Othello jealous 

How is Othello's emotional turmoil shown in speech 

Hitting Desdamona what is the outcome? 

Othello from nobel general to wifebeater 

Construction of a good global issue

In your groups complete assignment a) and b) 

Discuss in your groups. 

Then complete assignment c)

Iago the sensationalist​ - in this act 

Iago continues his assault on Othello’s overactive imagination​

He overtly suggests sexual impropriety in graphic terms: ​

“kissing in private”​

“lie with her, on her”​

“be naked with her friend in bed an hour or more, not meaning any harm”​

There dramatic irony when Iago who is the play’s most morally bankrupt character preaches about moral principles​

Iago the sensationalist​ - in this act 

Iago continues his assault on Othello’s overactive imagination​

He overtly suggests sexual impropriety in graphic terms: ​

“kissing in private”​

“lie with her, on her”​

“be naked with her friend in bed an hour or more, not meaning any harm”​

There dramatic irony when Iago who is the play’s most morally bankrupt character preaches about moral principles​

Othello hears exactly what Iago wants him to hear​

Othello is so overcome with anger and grief at the idea of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness that he cannot even express himself coherently; unlike the eloquent speaker of Act I.​

Iago does not just degrade women – he actively takes pleasure in degrading Othello too, literally reducing him to a quivering wreck, and inducing an epileptic fit 

What techniques does Shakespeare employ to show Othello's mental collapse? 

punctuation - em dash, exclamation marks, interrogative forms 

Repetition - "lie" 

Interrogatives = Uncertainty 

Equivocal meaning - play on words, confused definitions 

Swearing and profanity 

Fragments - incomplete sentences and fragmented thoughts 

Write a response discussing how authorial choices convey the mental collapse that Othello is suffering at this moment in the play. 

Desdemona is now at the mercy of everybody else

OTHELLO: Get me some poison, Iago, 

this night. I’ll not expostulate with 

her, lest her body and beauty 

unprovide my mind again. 

This night, Iago!​

IAGO: Do it not with poison. Strangle 

her in her bed, even the bed she 

hath contaminated.

What are Othello’s fears? ​

Why does Iago suggest another method? 

How is symbolism shown in this extract? 

At the time, poison was considered a woman’s weapon as it did not require any courage to administer. ​

​

Othello is a trained soldier; why doesn’t he just stab her? Why do you think his first thought was poison?​

Othello brought low

• Iago must remind Othello to “be a man”, revealing the total mastery that he now holds over the once-great Othello ​
  
• Othello, so recently hailed as “valiant” and “warlike”, has been entirely “unmanned” by Iago​
  
• The great general now has to ask his lieutenant for advice ​
  
• He no longer asserts his authority, but instead he is put in a passive state, not unlike women at that time. 
  
• He is now led, as opposed to leading​
  

Bianca confronts Cassio (again!)​

Bianca’s outburst is notable as she is the first woman so far who confronts her partner when she is displeased. ​

To us, this may seem positive but, at the time, such an outburst would reinforce stereotypes of a crude and unrefined lower class. Bianca would be seen as unruly, rather than independent. ​

For us Bianca may be of a lower social station, but she has integrity and is willing to confront issues rather than dance around them as so many of her social superiors do. ​

Othello hits Desdemona 

How would this have been viewed?​ Write down your answer in your exercise book. 

Consider your answer carefully – avoid clichés or lazy generalisations. Think about:​

where this is happening​

who is present​

Othello’s motivations​

the reactions of those present​

Jacobean views on the character of Moors​

​

Do you think the slap is more shocking now because we are much more aware of violence against women?

Othello – changed from noble general to savage wifebeater?​

His jealousy has become so overbearing that he has lost all sight of propriety and has crossed an important line ​

Othello compounds this brutal behaviour by calling Desdemona a “whore” in public, and she cannot stop weeping at this cruel treatment​

Lodovico simply cannot believe how quickly Othello has transformed. It is also a testament to how quickly jealousies can destroy a person. ​

Othello’s rapid decline also serves to heighten the tragic effect of this story. For one so great to fall so far, so quickly, is even more tragic and unexpected than if his fall happened more gradually.​

​

We are here now

The construction of a five act tragedy 

ACT ONE: setting the scene, laying out the problem

ACT TWO: plot develops, but the tragedy is not yet fixed

ACT THREE: something happens that seals the tragedy; no going back now

ACT FOUR: things unravel, and do so faster and faster

ACT FIVE: a catastrophe happens (usually deaths) and the problem at the start is resolved. Normality resumes.