Mock extract question development- Othello

1. As well as the duplicity of Iago, Shakespeare also presents the duplicity of Othello in this scene, which is significant to the whole text. Shakespeare uses a dramatic method to set set the scene in the opening of the extract. The extract begins in 'Venice Outside the Saggitary'. Shakespeare arguable used a Saggitary as a stage prop as it has significant importance of Othello and represents his duplicity, vital to the audiences understanding of him. A Saggitary is a half archer, half man or a half beast and half man. This foreshadows how Othello changes throughout the play. At the start of the play he is represented as a man, a 'Valiant Moor' who has self control and is ordered and structured which is fitting for his role as a general for the Venetian state. However the archer/beast represents another side of him. The beast represents Othello's lack of control when he becomes overwhelmingly jealous. The beast inside of him begins to create chaos in Cyprus. Othello's lack of control is shown through him shouting 'Fire and Brimstone' in front of Lodivco and then striking Desdemona. This once noble man has fallen from a height of greatness, which is vital for a classical tragedy as Aristotle said. Another aspect of a classical tragedy is also evident as Aristotle said in his book the poetics that the tragic hero cannot be entirely good or entirely evil. In the play, Othello is presented to posses both good and bad meaning the audience are evoked to feel both pity and fear at him called pathos another vital part in a classical tragedy. Linking contextually, Elizabethan society would of had stereotypical representations of a 'Moor' from the start of the play and expect him to be uncivilized. Othello both conforms and challenges Elizabethan expectations. 

2. At the end of the extract Othello is presented a clam and in control general that people respect. Othello's importance is shown in this extract as 'The senate hath sent about three several quests' to search for Othello as he is required to go to war against the Turkish to defend Cyprus. Othello is calm and collective about the senate’s request. Othello is shown to be guilty of hubris, which leads to his hamartia and the series of tragic events. Othello does not mind going to war and his ignorance and excessive pride is shows as he says: ' I will but spend a word here in the house/ And go with you'. Othello's hubris is that he is a respected war general, he has recently married a white senators daughter. Contextually, in Elizabethan society mixed raced marriages were unheard of and frowned upon, as many people believed that black people were only fit for slavery. To have married Desdemona as a mere 'Moor' is arguable another success to Othello which contributes to his hubris.  Othello's, hubris also continues, as he believes him self to be in control of all circumstances due to his title and social but also political importance to the Venetian state. This is significant to the tragedy on a whole and also ironic which is one of Shakespeare dramatic techniques he uses throughout the play as when Othello arrives in Cyprus 'Chaos has come again'. Arguable the most tragic part of Othello is that it is due to Othello's hubris that has made him into a well-respected war general and a married man. However it is also his hubris that causes his tragic downfall.