Papers: Othello and Desdemona

Major Works Data Sheet AP Literature and Composition Class Period 1B Title of Work Othello Author William Shakespeare Date of Publication 1604 Genre Tragedy/DramaCharacteristics of the Genre A tragedy is a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, usually one dealing with the downfall of the protagonist in this case, Othello. He goes from being the noble moor to killing the woman he loves and then himself. He destroys the great life he had and drags others down along with him. A drama is a story involving conflict or contrast of character. Othello contains a great deal of conflict. Brabantio is upset about Othello and Desdemonas love and Iago wants Cassios place of office. The central conflict is that Othello thinks Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. Othello shows contrast of character because he changes dramatically from the beginning of the play to the end. Historical Information about the Period of Publication Shakespeare did most of his work during the Elizabethan Era in England. During the rule of Queen Elizabeth, England transformed into a world power with the worlds most powerful navy. The Elizabethan Era coincided with the period of the Renaissance which began in the early 16th century and continued into the 17th century as well. Many famous poets appeared during the Renaissance such as John Milton. Many of the greatest works in Literature were written during the Renaissance period, a time of great focus on culture and literature. Biographical Information about the Author William Shakespeare was born on April 23rd, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England and had seven siblings. His parents were John and Mary Shakespeare. Shakespeare attended Stratford grammar school and married Anne Hathaway, a much older woman. Shakespeares acting group was originally called Lord Chamberlains Men and later, The Kings Men. Shakespeare wrote thirty seven different plays and one thousand seven hundred new words were attributed to him. Shakespeares first play was A History of King Henry VI and his last was The Tempest. Shakespeare wrote Othello in 1603 and Shakespeare died on his birthday in 1616. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. Plot Summary Othello and Desdemona fall in love with each other and plan to elope and become married. The reasoning behind their elopement is due to the fact that Othello and Desdemona are not of the same race. Thus Desdemonas father will not approve of their marriage. Meanwhile, Iago is devising a plan that will cause a tremendous amount of chaos. His plan is to lead Othello to believe that his wife, Desdemona has been cheating on him with another man. Iago gets to Othello, and causes him so much jealously that Othello can no longer take it. He then resorts to killing Desdemona, this shows how manipulative Iago can be. To drive someone to the point where they feel like they have to kill someone simply over the statements that someone else has said, which is very key to the personality that Iago possesses. Once Othello kills Desdemona, Emilia soon discovers that Iago is responsible for all of this she tries to expose the truth, while trying to do this though, Iago kills her. Othello then feels the crushing weight of guilt upon him and then stabs himself. In conclusion everyone dies except Iago and Cassio. Iago refuses to give an explanation for his actions, and he then states that he will never talk again. Description of the Authors Style Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines. Rhyme is predominantly a function of sound rather than spelling. Prose is poetry that is straightforward with the audience. It often makes use of striking imagery and figures of speech and is densely compact. A pun is a play on words that relies on a word having more than one meaning or sounding like another word. A metaphor is a figure of speech

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