Act 2-‘the gathering of a storm’

We started with the lesson by brain storming ‘A Storm’ and what it symbolises in literature (with a beautiful storm musical for effect).



We then had to draw three pictures to illustrate the three scenes in act one. Sir read out passages from each scene which we tried to picture and draw. In this task we were allowed to use speech bubbles. I cannot upload my outstanding art work but here are the passages:
‘Iago and Roderigo inform Brabantio that his daughter has secretly married Othello. ‘- Scene 1
‘Othello is called to the council on an urgent military business; Brabantio accuses Othello of casting a spell on his daughter’- Scene 2
‘Iago plots revenge, the senate discusses about the war and sends Othello’- Scene 3
Moving on, we read act 2 scene two.We then had to pick out descriptions of Othello from the perspective of Cassio and the governor of Cyprus (Montano). We found that they thought well of him as they described him in a positive manner. For example, Cassio refers to him as ‘Brave Othello’ while Montana declares ‘man commands like a full soldier’. This is significant as he seems to be accepted despite being black. However, this can also be interpreted as Shakespeare playing with dramatic irony because Othello is often referred to by name. This brings up the idea of dichotomy, the split of two things, because though they praise him in public they may think the opposite in private.
We then analysed page 53 by choosing words that are used to describe Desdemona. It was not surprising to find her being described as ‘one excels the quirks of blazing pens’ and being compared to ‘the grace of heaven’, this conforms to the paragon description women received during the renaissance. On the other hand, her description also conveys the stereotype of women being possessions. Desdemona is associated with treasure as her father Brabantio calls her a ‘jewel’ in act 1. This belief is reinforced in act 2 because Cassio lauds Othello for having ‘achieved’ Desdemona . The implication here is that she is a prize or an ornament as Othello has won her. Overall, we concluded that Desdemona was the catalyst causing or triggering Othello’s death as she is ‘the captain’s captain’; she seems tempting could therefore cause trouble.

We had to answer the following Questions:
I. What did you learn today about Othello?
II. What you did not understand?
III. What you find difficult?

Homework:
Write 10 questions that you would ask Iago in an interview, as he will pop in for a chat next lesson.

Aisha Moallim