William Shakespeare: Othello

Discussion questions for Shakespeare’s Othello

I will denote passages by act, scene, and line numbers; thus, for example, Act three,

Scene 4, lines 14-20 will be shown as 3.4.14-20.

1. Why is Bramantio so angry that Desdemona has eloped? Is he justified? How does the

Duke feel about the elopement?

2. How did Othello and Desdemona fall in love? What is the nature of their love? What

does Othello mean in 3.3.90-92 when he says, “Perdition catch my soul / But I do love

thee / And when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again.”

3. Iago says he hates Othello. “I do hate him as I do Hell pains” (1.2.155). What are the

reasons that he gives for his hatred? Is the breathtaking depth of his evil commensurate

with the offences he feels? How can we account for his evil?

4. What do we make of Iago’s speeches in 1.1.58-65 and 1.3.321-336? What do they show

us about his character?

5. Describe Iago’s relationship with Roderigo.

6. What does the repartee among Desdemona, Iago, and Emilia in 2.1.101-161 reveal about

their characters? Particularly, what is Iago’s attitude toward women, and how might it

affect the play?

7. Describe Iago’s relationship with his wife. What’s Emilia’s attitude toward men? When

she says near the end of the play that if a wife falls, it is her husband’s fault, what are her

reasons? How do you react to this idea? (5.1.87-104)

8. What techniques does Iago use to destroy Othello? Let’s trace Othello’s fall.

9. How does Cassio react to being fired by Othello? (2.3.262). What does this reaction

reveal about his character?

10. Do Desdemona’s words in 3.2.19-27 prove Iago’s evaluation of women in 2.1.101-108?

11. What is the purpose of the song that Desdemona sings in 4.3.40-57?

12. Let’s carefully examine Othello’s words shortly before and after he murders Desdemona (5.2). What do they reveal about his state of mind? What does he mean when he refers to himself as “An honorable murderer, if you will, / For naught did I in hate, but all in honor” (5.2.294-5).

13. How do you react to some of his last words, particularly lines 343-348?

14. Is Othello upset that he murdered an innocent Desdemona or that he murdered?

15. Once Iago’s evil is exposed, why does he remain silent? Earlier in the play he had said,

“Nay guiltiness will speak, / Though tongues were out of use” (5.1.109-10).

16. In Act 5, Othello says, “Who can control his fate? (2.265). Earlier Iago had said, “’Tis in

ourselves that we are thus or thus (1.3.321-22). Which do you think is true, and how

does this relate to the larger issues of the play?

17. Let’s discuss Emilia’s character.

18. Othello is a military man, a Moor, and black. How relevant are these facts to the play?

19. Is it significant that the story is set in Venice, Italy, and a Venetian possession, Cypress?

20. Who is the main character?

21. Deceit seems to be a main idea of the play introduced in scene 1 when Iago says, “I am not what I am” (1.1.65 ). Let’s discuss this idea.

22. Aristotle talked about the “tragic flaw”: a good, sometimes even a great person, who

because of a flaw in his character, causes his own destruction. (Shakespeare specifically

mentions this idea in Macbeth). In the end of Act 1, Iago notes that “the Moor is of a free

and open nature / That thinks men honest that seem so, / And will as tenderly be led by

the nose / As asses are.” Is this Othello’s tragic flaw?

23. While the tragedy is Othello’s, there’s a lot of blame to go around. What do you think?

24. While most of the play is written in verse (unrhymed, iambic pentameter), some scenes, like the conversation between Roderigo and Iago at the end of Act 2, are not. Why might Shakespeare have varied the text so?

25. I’m sure that you recognized many famous phrases such as, “I will wear my heart upon

my sleeve” (1.1.64) and “jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster (3.3.166-67). What

phrases or passages did you find particularly striking?