Othello Context

When did Kyd write The Spanish Tragedy?

1582-1592

Why is The Spanish Tragedy significant?

one of the first revenge tragedies

Why is it interesting that English writers used Venetian society to criticise England?

it was catholic

Whose marriage was Othello performed at?

Princess Elizabeth to Prince Frederick 1613

What was Cyprus’s reputation?

savagery and barbary

Who was also associated with willows?

Ophelia in Hamlet, symbol of female sorrow

What is Othello’s speech similar to?

In the Aeneid a tale of war heroes is used to woo a queen and it was popular classical reading at the time

What female archetypes does Desdemona embody?

Madonna, maiden, wife, whore

What was the strereotype about Italians in plays?

jealous

When was the War of Cyprus?

1570-1573

What is Othello based on?

tale from Cinthio’s 1565 collection in which the characters were archetypes

What separates men from animals according to The Chain of Being?

rationality and reason vs jealousy and passion

Why were foreign born merceneries more prevalent in Venice than England?

dependent on an entirely professional army for wars and defence

When was there a Moorish ambassador to Queen Elizabeth?

1600-1601

What did the Moorish ambassador want?

alliance between protestants and muslims against spain

When was Othello written?

1603-1604

When was Othello first performed publicly?

Spring/Summer 1604

When was Othello first performed at court?

Noveber 1604

Why is Othello comparable to Romeo and Juliet?

criticises the social system which restricts couples

What did The Art of Rhetoric say about language in 1553?

indicator of social status

What did Wright say about language in 1604?

mirror the mind

How did prejudice still exist in Venice?

first ghettos where Jews were forced to live

What happened to women’s property in marriage?

became her husbands

Why was virginity important?

ensure legitimate lines of succession

Was it legal to kill for adultery?

yes in venice, no but accepted in England

How did audiences react when Othello was performed in Oxford in 1610?

‘[Desdemona] entreated the pity of the spectators by her very countenance’

What did Elizabethan psychological lore say about excess of any passion?

madness

Why was Venice seen as a symbol of female deviance?

there was legal dispensation for prostitutes to preserve the virginity of noble women

What were the stereotypes about Black and Muslim people?

uncivilised, disturbing sexuality, irrational, jealous, angry

What did Blount say about Muslim people?

they were equally civilised but different

Which of Shakespeare’s major characters had distinctive humour?

King Lear, Viola, Rosalind, Iago

Who propogated the ‘myth of venice’ in 1599?

commonwealth and government of venice

What did the ‘myth of venice’ mean?

open but ordered society, ideal, built on trade and foreigners

What type of villain is Iago?

machiavellian

Who was Iago named after?

moor killing saint and two-faced deity Janus

Who wrote a poem in 1571 about the Venetian victory over the turks at Lepanto?

James I

What historical text might Shakespeare have consulted?

General historie of the Turkes by Knowles 1603