Specifications

• Specification A:

  The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, first performed sometime between 1602 and 1604, is considered to be one of the most important of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
• The play can be studied for either Specification A or B for AS and A Level AQA English Literature certification.
• The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is the full title of the play, but it is most commonly known simply as Othello.
• With Specification A, it is possible to explore Othello via the central literary theme of Love through the Ages.
• Thus it is concerned with the representation of love by a variety of authors over time.
• The focus of this Specification is very much upon the Historical Context of the literary text, and how the text connects to the social, economic, political and religious moments of its production.
• This is what is sometimes called a ‘Historicist’ approach.
• When it comes to considering this text, you as a student, should always be concerned with locating the text within history and how love is depicted during that particular phase.
• In the summaries below, you will see where this issue is highlighted under the title Love, Historical Context and Historicism.
• Love is therefore always linked to history.
• Specification B:

  The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, first performed sometime between 1602 and 1604, is considered to be one of the most important of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
• Specification B takes a different approach, which encompasses the notion of Genre, which is related to the type of literary text Othello is.
• Within Specification B, there are two possible routes to follow: either:

  • Comedy.
  • Or Tragedy.
• We are not concerned with Comedy here because Othello is a good example of a Dramatic Tragedy.
• The play exhibits many of the characteristics of a typical tragedy
• We not only see the tragedy of individual characters, but also the wider society imagined in the play.
• Tragedy usually results in the death of one or more characters in the text.
• This issue is highlighted under the title Tragedy.
• It is important that when coming to write about tragedy in this specification you don’t just automatically apply Classical ideas about tragedy, and that you note more the significance and implications of tragedy and tragic moments within the text.
• The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, first performed sometime between 1602 and 1604, is considered to be one of the most important of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
• In both specifications it is important that you consider multiple readings of the text.
• There is no one comprehensive reading of any particular literary text.
• What we do is to debate different interpretations and readings.
• This is where our interest applies.
• Avoid therefore making a monochromatic reading of either Love or Tragedy.
• Always try to see different or even contradictory readings.
• You will gain many more marks by doing this in these Specifications.
• The specifications also prioritise the issue of structure over smaller issues of form and language.
• This is because most writers spend a great deal of time considering structure as this has a major impact on the reader / audience (both in the whole play and within individual scenes).
• Thus try to focus your writing on this area rather than the minutiae of language and form.
• You will certainly need to consider the dramatic structure of this play and imagine in your own mind how certain events unfold as the drama is performed.
• You may need to consider how audiences might have responded to the play in Shakespeare’s time as well as, say, how they would respond to it in more modern times.
• The play deals with the sensitive issue of race and ethnicity, and generally, people have become much more enlightened and interested in such matters.