Contextual questions on Othello

QUESTION 14: OTHELLO – CONTEXTUAL QUESTION

Read the extracts below and then answer the questions that follow.

EXTRACT A
OTHELLO
It gives me wonder great as my content
To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have wakened death,
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas,
Olympus-high, and duck again as low
As hell's from heaven. If it were now to die
'Twere now to be most happy, for I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.
DESDEMONA
The heavens forbid
But that our loves and comforts should increase,
Even as our days do grow.
OTHELLO
Amen to that, sweet powers!
I cannot speak enough of this content;
It stops me here, it is too much of joy.
And this, (they kiss,) and this, the greatest discords be
That e'er our hearts shall make.
IAGO
(Aside) O, you are well tuned now!
But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,
As honest as I am.
OTHELLO
Come, let's to the castle.
News, friends: our wars are done, the Turks are drowned.
[Act 2, Scene 1]

14.1 Account for Othello's feelings in 'It gives me wonder great as my content/
To see you here before me.' (Lines 1 and 2)
(3)
14.2 Examine Desdemona's words in lines 11 to 13: 'The heavens forbid … days
do grow.'
What does Desdemona's response to Othello in these lines reveal about her?
(3)
14.3 'O, you are … this music' (lines 17 and 18)
Discuss the effectiveness of this metaphor in the context of the extract.
(3)
14.4 Refer to line 19: 'As honest as I am.'
How does this statement contribute to your understanding of Iago's
character?
(3)
14.5 Critically discuss the dramatic irony in '... our wars are done, the Turks are
drowned.' (Line 20)
(4)

AND

EXTRACT B
OTHELLO
I have a pain upon my forehead here.
DESDEMONA
Faith, that's with watching. 'Twill away again.
Let me but bind it hard, within this hour
It will be well.
OTHELLO
Your napkin is too little.
(He pushes the handkerchief away; Desdemona drops it.)
Let it alone. Come, I'll go in with you.
DESDEMONA
I am very sorry that you are not well.
(Othello and Desdemona off)
EMILIA
(Picks up the handkerchief)
I am glad I have found this napkin.
This was her first remembrance from the Moor.
My wayward husband hath a hundred times
Wooed me to steal it, but she so loves the token –
For he conjured her she should ever keep it –
That she reserves it evermore about her
To kiss and talk to. I'll have the work ta'en out
And give it Iago. What he will do with it
Heaven knows, not I;
I nothing, but to please his fantasy.
[Act 3 Scene 3]

14.6 Refer to the stage direction after line 4: '(He pushes the handkerchief away;
Desdemona drops it.)'
Discuss what Othello's action reveals about his attitude to Desdemona at this
point in the play.
(3)
14.7 Explain why this is a crucial moment in the play. Refer to Desdemona's
dropping the handkerchief and Emilia's picking it up.
(3)
14.8 Refer to Emilia's speech in lines 7 to 16: 'I am glad ... please his fantasy.'
Do you think that Emilia is justified in her motive for taking the handkerchief
for her husband?
(3)
[25]