Love Through the Ages

• Love Through the Ages

  The aim of this topic area is to encourage students to explore aspects of a central literary theme as seen over time, using unseen material and set texts.
• Love through the Ages

  • Students should be prepared for Love through the Ages by reading widely in the topic area, reading texts from a range of authors and times.
  • The range of texts (of which Othello is one) allows students to study representations of love by a variety of authors across time.
• The exam

  • Within the examination, students study three texts:
  • One poem.
  • One prose text, of which one must be written pre-1900.
  • One Shakespeare play (Othello).
  • You will also respond to two unseen poems in the exam.
• Aspects of love to explore

  • Although not an exhaustive list of Aspects of Love through the Ages, areas that can usefully be explored include:
• Romantic love of many kinds

  • Romantic love of many kinds:
  • Othello and Desdemona.
  • Iago and Emilia (but failed and damaged).
  • Cassio and Bianca.
• Love and sex

  • Love and sex:
  • Othello and Desdemona.
  • Iago and Emilia—and her dissatisfaction.
  • Cassio and Bianca—the notion of paying for sex/love.
  • Love and Sex in the context of the 1600s in general and the historical period and place the play is set.
  • Desdemona’s interest in sex.
• Love and loss

  • Love and loss:
  • Othello’s suspicion and jealousy, feeling like he has lost Desdemona to Cassio.
  • Emilia realising that she has lost Iago.
  • Othello killing Desdemona.
  • Desdemona (alive enough) to realise Othello’s death.
  • The failure of Cassio and Bianca’s relationship.
  • Cassio’s injury and Bianca’s reaction.
• Love Through the Ages 2

  Although not an exhaustive list of Aspects of Love through the Ages, areas that can usefully be explored include:
• Social conventions and taboos

  • Social conventions and taboos:
  • The love affair between a white woman and a black man.
  • Marrying without the permission of one’s father (Brabantio).
  • The age gap between Othello and Desdemona.
  • The notion of witchcraft.
• History and time

  • Love through the ages according to history and time:
  • Conventions during the Renaissance.
  • The ability of those at the top of society to do what they want.
  • The challenge of the ‘new man’ in the form of Iago.
  • The way that relationships are conducted between men and women.
  • The legitimacy of courtiers / prostitution.
  • The conventions of marriage.
• Individual lives

  • Individual lives (young love, maturing love):
  • Othello and Desdemona when younger, but also their maturity at the end of the play - reverting perhaps to childishness once more.
  • The impact of thinking one is being deceived.
  • The fear that one partner thinks the other partner believes they are having an affair.
  • Love and sex, paid for by money.
  • The loveless marriage of Emilia and Iago.
  • The manipulation of others by an individual.
• Jealousy and guilt

  • Jealousy and guilt:
  • Othello’s misplaced jealousy of Cassio.
  • Iago’s jealousy of Othello (he believes Othello once slept with Emilia).
  • Iago’s jealousy of Cassio.
  • Brabantio’s guilt about his daughter.
  • Desdemona’s own guilt over going against her father.
  • Othello’s guilt over killing Desdemona.
  • Emilia’s guilt at not telling the truth soon enough.
• Love Through the Ages 3

  Although not an exhaustive list of Aspects of Love through the Ages, areas that can usefully be explored include:
• Truth and deception

  • Truth and deception:
  • Iago’s deception of Othello.
  • Iago’s deception of Emilia.
  • Othello’s realisation of truth about Desdemona.
  • The symbol of the handkerchief.
• Proximity and distance

  • Proximity and distance:
  • Desdemona and Othello’s initially close marriage and eventual distance.
  • Iago’s enforced distance from Emilia.
  • Bianca’s distance from Cassio.
  • The distance from Cyprus (away) to Venice (home).
• Marriage

  • Marriage:
  • Desdemona and Othello’s marriage and how it declines into chaos.
  • Iago and Emilia’s failed marriage.
  • Cassio and Roderigo’s incapacity to marry.
• Approval and disapproval

  • Approval and disapproval:
  • Social approval of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage by the Senators.
  • Brabantio’s disapproval of Othello.
  • Iago’s disapproval of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship.
  • Iago’s anger over Emilia’s past relationship with Othello.
  • The general disapproval of mixed race love and marriage in the society at the time.