Othello Coursework Tasks

Below is a longish list of possible coursework titles.

Topics:
1. Tragedies
a. It has been said ‘It may be that for most Elizabethans, including Shakespeare
himself, a tragedy simply meant a story which ended unhappily.’ How
satisfactory do you find this comment as a description of the final scene of
Othello?
b. Puttenham claimed that the function of tragedy is to show ‘the mutability of
fortune, and the just punishment of God in revenge of a vicious and evil life,’
whereas Sidney claimed it ‘maketh kings fear to by tyrants ... [and] teacheth
the uncertainty of this world.’ Which of these (if either) do you find more
convincing in your reading of the play?
c. In Renaissance England a popular form of tragedy was the Revenge Tragedy,
in which a character seeks to avenge a great wrong, but must place
themselves outside the normal moral order of things, becoming more and
more isolated as the play progresses, an isolation which at its extreme
becomes madness. What are your thoughts, having read Othello?
2. Otherness:
a. “The threatening other must be discovered or invented in order to be
attacked or destroyed.” How does this statement illuminate Act III of the
tragedy for you?
3. Brabantio
a. “Although he is a minor part, Brabantio sets out the terms on which the
tragedy will be enacted.” To what extent do you agree with this view?
4. Welcome to Cyprus
a. ‘Cyprus may appear to be a long way from Venetian civilisation, but it is
Venice which allows the tragedy to take place.’ Consider this view.
b. In what ways is the conflict between civilisation and barbarity significant in
the tragedy?
5. Bianca
a. Does Bianca have any relevance to the tragedy, beyond her use as a means
to deceive Othello?
6. Lodovico
a. Do you believe Lodovico's comment that “this would not be believed in
Venice” (Act 4, Scene 1)?
7. Ending
a. At the end of the tragedy, Lodovico orders the bodies Othello and
Desdemona be hid because “the object poisons sight.” Explore some
different responses to the nature of the ‘poison’ that Lodovico is keen to
cover up.
b. The ending of a tragedy is conventionally expected to be cathartic and
redemptive. Can this be said of the conclusion to Othello?
8. Opening
a. Is this the opening to a tragedy, or a comedy?
9. Roderigo
a. “Of all the characters in the tragedy, Roderigo most deserves our pity.”
Consider the play in the light of this statement.
10.Emelia
 a. “Granted, finding the handkerchief and failing to say anything is an decisive
element of the tragedy, but Emilia has little relevance beyond this.” Is this a
valid judgment of the play?
11.Self-Centredness and Self-Image
a. Consider the view that, in this tragedy, the dramatic power of the anagnorisis
derives not from understanding what has happened, but from a character
seeing themselves as they really are.