23rd November ’10, Tuesday

Othello: Act 3 Scene 3 the tipping point scene.

We started the lesson with an activity that was writing 3 words on each of the 6 pictures that were put up on the board. These pictures showed various things like love, manipulation, pouring of pestilence into Othello’s ear etc. After that we focused on line 229 spoken by Othello of Act 3 Scene 3 i.e. “And yet how nature erring from itself-“ this break in his sentence shows that he is losing the flow in his speech and also shows that the Othello is no more the one who could stop fights with his words. We then went through Othello’s soliloquy which marks the change in Othello i.e. in the words he uses and his behaviour.

We then continued reading Scene 3 and reached an important part of the play i.e. the dropping of the handkerchief by Desdemona. The handkerchief was the first gift that Othello had given to Desdemona. The handkerchief is the main tool used by Iago to bring about the tragedy that he wanted. The next important thing in Scene 3 is the use of Imperatives (commands/orders) by Iago on pg: 119 these give us ideas about Iago which state that he doesn’t love Emilia instead he uses her as a tool, it might also be an hint of homosexuality or the status of women in those times.

Then the course of action is set up by Othello when he asks Iago for visual proof of Desdemona cheating on him. We continued reading and we found that Othello is now in conflict with himself. He has also started making use of violent imagery and antithesis which shows Iago’s influence on him. Iago in his next line i.e.” I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion.” Sums up what has happened to Othello.

As we continue reading we came across a pentameter split (they share the verse, they come together on the basis of their thoughts) between Iago and Othello. And we see a massive change in Othello when he says: “I’ll tear her all into pieces!” at the end of pg: 125, this line of Othello comes in contrast with his line on pg: 115 where he says: “If she be false, O then heaven mocks itself; I’ll not believe it.” This shift in Othello’s thoughts within the span of 150 lines becomes an evidence for his minds instability. We read through the whole of Scene 3 and came across powerful imagery and few lines like “Do not rise yet” which show that Iago is the one in power now.

• For Home Work : Make a flow chart of Act 3 Scene 3 showing the way Othello shifts from being confident in Desdemona to being confident in Iago.
• Read the sheet given by Sir a few classes ago.
• Comment on this blog.
Akanksha