Othello

Megan Wright
Sec. Ed 276R

Novel Information and Resources:

Problems with Othello in the High School Classroom
Christenbury, Leila. "Problems with Othello in the High School Classroom" Teaching Shakespeare into the Twenty-First Century. (1997): 182-190.
This article was helpful in exploring the issue of race in the high school classroom with Othello as the text. The writer looks at how important race is as an issue in Othello and what relation this has to high school students. There are also some questions posed at the end of the article to facilitate class discussion of the subject.

Daily Lfe in City, Town and Country
Garrett, George P. "Daily Lfe in City, Town and Country." William Shakespeare: His World. I (1985): 215-232.
Garrett's article provided useful information that gives background into the life of a typical Englishman of Shakespeare's time. This information is potentially useful in introducting a unit on Shakespeare and his works. The article deals with such issues as travel, madicine, crime, the reign of Quen Elizabeth, and typical occupations of the times.

Picturing Shakespeare Using Film in the Classroom to Turn Text into Theatre
Hirsch, James. "Picturing Shakespeare Using film in the classroom to turn text into Theatre." Teaching Shakspeare Today. (1993):140-149.
Television and film play a vital role in the classrooms of today. Hirsh's article shares strategies regarding the most successful way to use film in education. It also highlights the advantages of using this medium in the teaching of Shakespeare's works.

Getting to Know a Play in Five Ways
Rozett, Martha Tuck. "Getting to Know a Play in Five Ways." Teaching Shakespeare Today. (1993): 39-47.
Raading Shakespeare can be a daunting task for many high school students. Rozett's article deals with some of the ways teachers can make it a successful experience for students, helping them understand the best ways to dissect Shakespeare.

http://www.clicknotes.com/othello/welcome.html
This site has lesson plans for teaching shakespeare, specifically Othello. There are related links giving more information on the subject of the play and its scenes and characters.

http://www.folger.edu/education/lesson.cfm?lessonid=51
This site offers lesson plans as well as good discussion material for topics imbedded in the play. There are activity suggestions offered too. A great site overall.

http://www.renfaire.com
This is a site dedicated to the culture surrounding the Renaissance. It sheds light on sostuming and accents used by many of Shakespeare's characters. It would be of great interest to students, especially in helping them prepare for a performance of the material or some related learning activity. There is also a list of terms that would make Shakespeare's word choice more accessible to modern students.

http://www.cc.emory.edu/ENGLISH/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/Shakespeare.html This site gives illustrations that would be helpful in showing students typical architecture of the time as well as some depictions of Othello and Desdemona.

http://daphne.palomar.edu/shakespeare/educational.htm
This site gives great lesson plans to be used with the text of Othello. It has links to many other helpful and informative sites.

Reading Activities (compiled by Megan Wright)

1. “Literary Contexts.” Teachit: English Teaching Online. 2004. Promethean. 14 Oct. 2004.
<http://www.teachit.co.uk/pdf/1305.pdf>

This source contains information that could be used as lecture material on the identifying characteristics of a tragedy and its transformation over time, and it gives information on the treatment of Africans and moors in literature contemporary to “Othello.” This would give students important background information about how “Othello” fits into the literary tradition.

2. Shakespeare and the Globe: Then and Now. Encyclopedia Britannica. 15 Oct 2004
< http://search.eb.com/shakespeare/index2.html>

This site has great information and pictures about a variety of subjects related to Elizabethan theatre and Shakespeare. It could be used to create a PowerPoint presentation for lecture or, if the school was technologically equipped, it could be used as the site of a Shakespeare online scavenger hunt for students to do their own research on life and theatre in Shakespeare’s day.

3. Cummings, Michael J. “Blank Verse and Iambic Pentameter.” 2003. Shake Sphere.
12 Oct. 2004. < http://sites.micro-link.net/zekscrab/facts.html>

Because Shakespeare’s writing style is so foreign to the average teenager’s speech, this information would be useful to explain why Shakespeare’s plays sound different than normal speech. This could be combined with the sonnet activity (below) to introduce aspects of Shakespeare’s language and make students familiar with meter and rhyme in poetic forms of writing.

4. Cummings, Michael J. “Thou and Thee, You and Ye.” 2003. Shake Sphere.
12 Oct. 2004. < http://sites.micro-link.net/zekscrab/lovelabour.html>

The use of different Shakespearean pronouns changes the meaning of the speech of a given character. This source could be used to teach a lesson about what the various Shakespearean pronouns signify and could be integrated into an activity that uses passages of Shakespeare’s plays (not “Othello”) to practice and see this difference.

5. Alchin, L.K. “William Shakespeare Sonnets.” William Shakespeare Info: The Complete
Works. Oct. 18, 2004. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-sonnets.htm>

Selected sonnets found on this site (#29 and #130) could be used to introduce students to Shakespeare’s writing and the language of Elizabethan England. It would allow students a shorter, less daunting form to deal with when trying to get used to Shakespeare’s early modern English.

6 . Shakespeare in Love. Dir. John Madden. Perf. Joseph Fiennes, Gwenyth Paltrow, Judi
Dench, Geoffrey Rush, and Ben Affleck. Miramax, 1998.

Clips from an edited version of this film interpretation of Shakespeare’s life would be useful in giving students a living mental image of life in Elizabethan England and how the theatres operated. Famous actress, Gwyneth Paltrow and the high acclamation of the movie would make it appealing to teenagers.

7 . Richler, Howard. Take My Words: A Wordaholic’s Guide to the English Language.
Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 1996.

The excerpt I have from this book would connect Shakespeare to today’s language and also show the lasting impact of Shakespeare on the world. The humor would help Students foster a positive view of Shakespeare.

8. Gregg, Harold, Jr. “Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.” Paper Toys. Oct 18, 2004.
<http://papertoys.com/images.globe.gif> Oct. 18, 2004.

This site provided a printable pattern to construct a model of the globe theatre that I think would give students a better idea of what the theatre looked like than photographs alone can, and would be a fun decoration for the classroom during the unit.

9 . Fontana, Paul Michael. “The Plot of Othello.” Teacher Resource Guide. The Acting
Company. 2001.

Because the language is difficult, this plot synopsis would be helpful in putting together the plot elements of the play. It could be given as a handout at the beginning, but I would probably give it to student in sections as we read each act. The activity would go on during reading, but would culminate after the play is finished in an activity centered around identifying parts of plot.

10. Edens, Walter. “Understanding Shakespeare.” Teaching Shakespeare. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton UP, 1977.

This source could be used to formulate various activities and guide class discussions as it outlines important themes and issues of each act of the play. It could also be coupled with the previous activity to identify plot and theme.

11. West, Charles. “Shakespeare Wall.” Folger Shakespeare Library. 2001.
<http://www.folger.edu/education/lesson.cfm?lessonid=6> Oct. 10, 2004.

This activity idea serves multiple purposes: decoration for the classroom, visual method of mapping out various themes and patterns as they occur in the play (i.e. – references to Othello as black or related terms), visual map of the progression of the plot.

12. Lynch, Dory. “Monologues/Scenes/Elements of Dialogue.” Creative Writing. 2003.
<http://www.bloomington.in.us/~dory/creative/class13.html> Oct 18, 2004.

This site provides basic information on the differences between drama and narrative texts and the difference between monologue and dialogue. It also discusses the functions that they serve which could be used in conjunction with the modernized monologue activity (see below) to give students an idea of how monologues function in a text.

13. Cahn, Victor L. “Appearance versus Reality.” The Plays of Shakespeare. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001.

This source would serve as a basis for study and discussion of the major theme of appearance versus reality in the play. Students could be directed to passages referenced in this text and instructed to work in groups to analyze how these quotes reflect this theme.

14. Swetnam, Joseph. The Araignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women.
London: Printed by T. Snodham, 1617.

I would have students read excerpts Swetnam's work and then compare it to Iago's attitude toward women in Othello and also compare it to modern views of the role of women.

15. Prior, Moody E. “Character in Relation to Action in ‘Othello’.” Modern Philology 44.4
(1947): 225-237.

This article discusses how Othello’s actions characterize him as a person. Classroom discussion of Othello’s character could be aided by ideas and information found in this source, and students would benefit from as many points of view as possible to look at the various themes of the play.

16. “The Handkerchief.” The Norton Shakespeare Workshop. Ed. Mark Rose. CD-ROM.
The W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Considered a very important symbol in the play, the handkerchief becomes an interesting topic of discussion, guided partly by information and analysis provided by this article.

17 . Olsen, Kirstin. “Marriage.” All Things Shakespeare: an Encylcopedia of Shakespeare’s
World. Vol. 2. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 2002. 2 Vols.

This information could serve as lecture material to introduce discussion on the marriage relationships in the play (Othello/Desdemona, Iago/Emilia, and Cassio/Bianca [even though these two aren’t married]). Student could then analyze how Shakespeare reinforces or argues against these ideas and how they compare to today’s courtship and marriage.

18 . “Judging Othello’s Actions.” Teachit: English Teaching Online. 2003. Promethean. 14
Oct. 2004. <http://www.teachit.co.uk/pdf/1171.pdf>

This sheet could function as an introduction to an activity where I would have students put Othello on trial (in a mock trial class setting) and use textual details to prove whether or not Othello is to blame for his actions.

19 . “Iago as Vice.” The Norton Shakespeare Workshop. Ed. Mark Rose. CD-ROM.
The W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.

This analysis of Iago could serve as the basis of a class discussion of the problematic character of Iago and his mysterious motives.

20 . “Comparing Iago and Othello’s Language.” Teachit: English Teaching Online. 2002.
Promethean. 14 Oct. 2004. <http://www.teachit.co.uk>

This activity would be effective for group would that would compare the language of the two characters throughout the play and how their language changes and what purposes it serves. This would help students dig deeper into the text to analyze and compare.

21. O. Dir. Tim Blake Nelson. Julia Stiles, Mehki Phifer, Josh Hartnet. 2001.

This film adaptation of “Othello” is set in a high school arena and uses colloquial language, so it would function well as a way to get students to relate to the play. I would use various scenes from this version to help students understand the themes of the play and the motives for action, especially that of Iago’s (Hugo in this version) persuasion of Othello (O) during Act III.

22. Othello. Eamonn Walker, Christopher Eccleston. Acorn Media Publishing, Inc. 2001.
This is another film adaptation that I think would be useful in helping students understand the vast possibilities for the interpretation of Shakespeare’s works. I would like to show clips of the same scenes from a few different film versions and then compare the characterization and interpretation used in each version, and then I students could compare that to the text itself.

23. Africanus, Leo. The History and Description of Africa. Trans. John Pory. 1600.

This primary source shows an Elizabethan view of Africans, and therefore could be used with the stereotype lesson (below) to help students get inside the minds of Elizabethans and see the play in its context.

24. Cavazos, Sean. “Othello’s Predecessors: Moor’s in Popular Renaissance Literature.”
1998. Folger Shakespeare Library. Oct. 14, 2004.
<http://shakespeare.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http>

This lesson deals with racism and perception in the play and in the literature of the time period. I would connect racism of the past to the present and formulate an activity that exposes the stereotypes that today’s society holds to be true, similarly to Cavazos’s plan.

25. “The Issue of Race in Othello…” Teachit: English Teaching Online. 2002.
Promethean. 14 Oct. 2004. <http://www.teachit.co.uk/pdf/1270.pdf>

This activity goes along with the Paul Robeson interview and the Cavazos lesson about the perception of moors in Shakespeare’s day. I would have students research and present the opposing sides in debate form to determine the validity of the arguments for and against the importance of race in the play.

26. “Paul Robeson as Othello.” The Norton Shakespeare Workshop. Ed. Mark Rose.
CD-ROM. The W.W. Norton & Company, 1997

This interview serves as an important step in the creation of the modern portrayal of Othello in theatre. I would have students read the passage and then discuss how Robeson’s view of Othello relates to the different Othellos they have seen as we have studies the play and seen various clips and pictures of productions throughout the centuries since Shakespeare.

27 . Knapp, James A. “‘Ocular Proof’: Archival Revelations and Aesthetic Response.”
Poetics Today 24.4 (2003): 695-727.

This article deals with the appearance versus reality theme that is so central to the play. The article could serve for the basis of some group discussion that would then introduce an essay dealing with the theme.

Back to Shakespeare's Page

Reading Resources and Unit Guide for this Novel