October 17

Objective: Students will focus their attention on the construction and content of several individual speeches in Othello.
They will understand how what is said and how it is said develops character.
Students will further analyze their own Act's content for asides,monologues, soliloquies etc.

Aim: What important asides, monologues, soliloquies etc. do you think will make your script more meaningful and reveal the true nature of the characters?

Do Now: Write in your notebooks a sentence that starts ______ is my favorite character in Act __ is because _________.
- Desdemona is my favorite character in Act V because she wants to protect her love with Othello despises the fact that Othello killed her and she tries to help other people.

Teacher's model:
For example, Othello’s final speech is an important index of his character. It is an address to the political leaders who commissioned him, rather than a diatribe (bitter speech) against Iago—a public speech, rather than an anguished private monologue. It tells us about who he was and who he has become through his unchecked passion. It reveals what he feels in the aftermath of slaying Desdemona. Iago’s speeches, on the other hand, are most often in the form of monologues; he talks to himself about his plans and his evaluation of the other characters. This tendency to talk to himself (aside) may be an indication of both his madness and his malevolence (having, showing, or arising from intense often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred/ productive of harm or evil). For example :

“I have rubbed this young quat (Roderigo) almost to (annoying worthless person)
the sense,
And he grows angry. Now whether he kill Cassio,
Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,
Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,
He calls me to a restitution large (the act of restoring something to its original state)
Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him (to gain by fraud,cheating)
As gifts to Desdemona.
It must not be. If Cassio do remain,
He hath a daily beauty in his life
That makes me ugly; and besides, the Moor
May unfold me to him; there I stand in much peril.
No he must die. But so, I hear him coming.”
(V, i, 11-21)

Cooperative Learning: We will use the actual text today to cite our sources
Through each character’s speech and actions, we learn about the character’s desires, intentions, motivations, and dreams. Allow the group to select one major character who appears frequently in their selected act. Analyze the speech and actions of the character and list on chart paper what each speech and/or action tells us about the character’s motivation and desires. They should divide the chart paper in half and list in the left column the lines in the act or behavior that reveals the character’s desires. In the right hand column, they should list what this tells us about the character’s desires. After each group has completed this exercise, have them create an internal monologue (Asides) based on one or more of the speeches of the character in the act they have selected. In this internal monologue (aside) the character speaks directly to the audience about her/his desires and motivations. The group should present this internal monologue to the class either as a dramatic reading or recitation.

Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.
In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so for my peculiar end.
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, ’tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am. (I.i.57–65)
-Iago