need help with othello!!!

[steffithms]

my exams are approaching and i need help with this play. would anyone please tell me a few important themes to look up in this play? i have limited time available and cannot go into an in depth analysis of the play, therefore need a few imp themes to look up from examination point of view. Please Help!!

[optimisticnad]

I'm sorry I have to ask why you've left till so late?

I wouldn't normally recommend googling but it'll give you a good intro to the play. You'll get a lot of themes/analysis, most of it good quality (don't use wiki)

Themes / Issues in the play :

- Misogyny
- Virgin/Whore dichotomy - e.g Desdemona, but this is more a reflection of Othello than Desdemona.
- Iago's motives for what he does : money, position? Revenge on Othello and Cassio? Psycho! See Coleridge's paper on this ('motiveless malignity') - try googling.
- Is Othello just a slightly civilised Barbarian? Is Iago right to call him the names he does?
- Othello's insecurities - he is incredibly quick to believe Iago and condemn Desdemona, why? At one point of the play (in the court scene at the beginning of the play) he says that Desdemona fell in love with the exotic stories he told - so he thinks she loved the mysticism/adventure and not him as a person. There are countless examples in the play, the reason this matters is because you need to decide what caused Othello's downfall. He was black and yet he held such high position and had so much respect, where did it all go wrong? And Iago isn't the only factor in his downfall.

Hope this helps even a little.

[steffithms]

Thank You!!...of course its going to help....i have two other plays Antony and Cleopatra and As You Like It to prepare for the exams and i just got caught up with these.
Thank you again really appreciate it!