Literary Er Othello By William Shakespeare - 1514 Words

1. Literary Era Othello, by William Shakespeare was a play set in Venice, Italy in the Renaissance Era. This era brought forth an array of new and exciting types of art, plays, and etcetera dealing in entertainment. We also saw the introduction of Elizabethan staging and Shakespearean language which was new to the people in Europe because he wrote for the actors and not the readers and it was complex. You often had to listen to the way the actors performed it to understand the mood and meaning of the play. 2. Setting of Play/Novel As mentioned earlier, this play was set in Venice, Italy and then later Cyprus, an island of love. This play was also written down during the time that many of Shakespeare s other great plays such as Hamlet and†¦show more content†¦Towards the end, his goals change and he s no longer the kind person we knew but has turned into a different person, who not only is cold and distant, because he s let Iago convince him that his wife is unfaithful and the immensity of that pain is too much to handle for him so he does the unthinkable-kills his wife. 4. Major Characters Desdemona- Desdemona is Othello s wife and her goal is to prove to Othello that she loves him. They make a sacrifice by eloping without her father knowing. She stays faithful to Othello the entire time despite his suspicion raised by Iago. She spends the entire time wondering why he s being this way towards her and trying to steer his judgement in the other direction with the help of Emilia. This is to no prevail because she becomes the victim in the end due to the actions of Iago. She serves as a foil to Emilia because their ideals contrast each other. Desdemona has a naà ¯vetà © to her that prevents her from even believing that wives cheat on their husbands while Emilia is sure of it and even believes the blame falls on the husband for the actions of the wife. Cassio- Michael Cassio is a foil to the protagonist, Othello. Both men served in the war but offer different perspectives of it. Cassio represents the smooth, charming and boyish demeanor that attracts women to soldiers while Othello represents more of the backbone, support and wisdom that serves as the foundation of the army. They also