Authorial Choices and Textual Features (DP IB English A: Language and Literature: HL): Revision Note

Othello: authorial choices and textual features

Across assessments in English A Language and Literature, you need to show the ability to analyse and evaluate how a writer achieves a purpose, conveys a message and/or explores a theme. Therefore, knowing the names of authorial choices and textual features and pairing them with specific references and impacts is key to your success in assessments. 

Dramatic methods

There are a number of dramatic methods used in Othello:

• Structural and dramatic techniques 

• Stagecraft

• Symbolism and motifs

• Language

• Characterisation

Structural and dramatic techniques

Structure of a tragedy 

In its form and structure, Othello follows the patterns of a classical Greek tragedy.

• Othello can be considered both a domestic tragedy and a revenge tragedy

• The play, like many of Shakespeare’s tragedies, follows a five-part structure

• In the exposition (opens in a new tab), the characters, setting, and inciting incident are introduced:

  • The play begins in Venice, a sea port and centre of commerce

  • Iago sets in motion the conflict by alerting Brabanzio to Othello’s relationship with his daughter

• In the rising action (opens in a new tab), Shakespeare reveals the tragic hero Othello’s hamartia (opens in a new tab): his naïve trust in Iago

• The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle defined tragedy as a story in which the action moves towards catastrophe:

  • The reversal of the tragic hero’s fortune is brought about by his tragic flaw

  • In the climax (opens in a new tab), Othello’s peripeteia begins as jealousy overcomes him in Act 3 Scene 3

• During the falling action (opens in a new tab), the consequences of the protagonist (opens in a new tab)'s decision unfold:

  • Othello’s anagnorisis comes in Act 5: Othello sees Desdemona’s innocence and Iago’s manipulation of him, arousing pathos (opens in a new tab) in the audience

• In the denouement (opens in a new tab), the central conflict is resolved and the characters face their fate, leading to catharsis (opens in a new tab): Othello’s suicide acknowledges Desdemona’s faith

Dramatic irony

Dramatic irony (opens in a new tab) heightens the tension in a dramatic tragedy and, simultaneously, provokes questions through the audience’s complicity. 

• Dramatic irony is created predominantly through Iago’s soliloquies (opens in a new tab): while the other characters believe him to be honest, the audience knows he is jealously plotting:

  • While he tells audiences “I am not what I am”, other characters refer to him as “honest Iago”

• Othello’s rage surrounding the handkerchief (while the audience knows Desdemona is innocent) creates tension and further raises the theme of trust

• Emilia’s confident assertions about jealousy while ignorant of her husband’s envy are ironic (opens in a new tab):

  • Emilia tells Desdemona in Act 3 Scene 4, “Jealous souls will not be answered … They are not ever jealous for the cause, / But jealous for they’re jealous”

  • These lines are laced with dramatic irony because of what the audience already knows about Emilia’s husband, Iago

Foreshadowing

Shakespeare uses foreshadowing (opens in a new tab) to build suspense and create a sense of foreboding.

• In Act 1 Scene 3, Othello proclaims trust in Desdemona: “My life upon her faith!”:

  • This foreshadows his death, a result of his doubt in her innocence

• In Act 3, Scene 3, Othello says about Desdemona: “But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again”:

  • This line foreshadows the destruction that comes when his love is tested

• Desdemona’s “song of willow” in Act 4 Scene 3 foreshadows her own death at the hands of a mad man:

  • She describes the death of her mother’s maid: “he she loved proved mad / And did forsake her”

  • The line “But to go hang my head all at one side” hints at her own death 

• In Act 4 Scene 1, Shakespeare use symbolism (opens in a new tab) as foreshadowing

• Othello tells Iago: “O, it comes o’er my memory / As doth the raven o’er the infectious house”, alluding to superstitions about ravens as bad omens and harbingers of death:

  • The image suggests a tragic outcome for Othello and his “house”

Stagecraft

Staging

Stagecraft can be analysed as dramatic devices that set the scene: stage directions, lighting, or sound effects contribute to the mood of a scene and aid transitions between time and place.

• Shakespeare’s stage directions are simple, allowing varied manipulations of scene-setting and necessary for performance in various locations:

  • For example, to depict the opening of the play occurring at night, stage directions say: “Enter Brabanzio in his nightgown at a window above”

  • Act 1 Scene 2 opens with directions that mention Othello, Iago, and attendants “with torches”

• In Jacobean England, stage setting was minimalistic, without elaborate backdrops:

  • Even today, drama often relies on the audience’s imagination to bring the setting to life and engage the audience

  • At the beginning or end of scenes in Othello, dialogue (opens in a new tab) provides transitions: the storm that opens Act 2 is described by the characters on stage

  • Suspension of disbelief is aided by sound effects, such as “A shot” alerting audiences to the arrival of a ship

  • Dialogue helps too: voices call out “A sail, a sail!”

• Props are used minimally in Othello: there is a “chair” and a “napkin”

• Act 5 Scene 2, though, relies on props for an intimate tragic scene: “Enter Othello with a light. ⌈He draws back a curtain, revealing Desdemona asleep in her bed]”

Symbolism and motifs

Shakespeare’s Othello uses symbolism to represent conflicts of identity and morality that underline the play’s themes; many of the symbols fall into one of three categories: the magical, the religious, and the animalistic. 

• Shakespeare introduces ideas of magic and witchcraft early in the tragedy to raise themes about outsiders and the ‘Other’, particularly to present racist attitudes:

  • In Act 1 Scene 3, Brabanzio accuses Othello of enchanting Desdemona with “charms”, “spells and medicines”

  • Iago, too, refers to the “devil” when he describes Othello as an “old black ram” having sexual relations with a “white ewe” (Desdemona)

• The handkerchief that Iago uses to trick Othello is symbolic of Othello’s love:

  • Othello tells Desdemona it was given to his mother by a “charmer”

  • He explains its symbolism: “if she lost it,/Or made a gift of it, my father’s eye/ Should hold her loathèd”

• Animal images are used throughout the tragedy to signify racially charged attacks intended to dehumanise Othello:

  • Iago uses animal symbolism in Act 1 Scene 1, describing Othello as a “Barbary horse” and a “black ram”

  • He describes Othello and Desdemona as “making the beast with two backs”

• Furthermore, animal symbolism represents both Othello and Iago’s immorality:

  • In Act 1 Scene 3, Iago alludes to Othello’s fatal flaw, suggesting he is easily led “as asses are”

  • Iago famously describes jealousy as “the green-eyed monster, which doth mock/The meat it feeds on” 

  • Iago leads Othello into jealous madness by suggesting Cassio and Desdemona are “as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys” 

  • In Act 4 Scene 1, a rage-fuelled Othello hits Desdemona, repeating Iago’s words “Goats and monkeys!”

  • In Act 5 Scene 2, Othello describes how his pure love for Desdemona has become “a cistern, for foul toads”

  • This line mirrors his soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 3 in which he says he would “rather be a toad” than accept Desdemona’s infidelity 

Language

Verse and prose

Shakespeare alternates between blank verse (opens in a new tab) and prose (opens in a new tab) to represent characters’ emotions through tone of voice. 

• In drama, blank verse in iambic pentameter (opens in a new tab)is traditionally assigned to characters of noble bearing and/or high status:

  • Othello’s dignified and measured speeches in Act 1 Scene 2 and Act 1 Scene 3 mark his status

  • Thus, Shakespeare’s characterisation of him as a Moor defies prevailing racial stereotypes

• As Iago begins to poison Othello’s mind in Act 3 Scene 3, Iago and Othello complete one another’s lines in iambic pentameter:

  • Iago says “You would be satisfied” and Othello replies “Would! Nay, I will”

  • This reveals Iago’s powers of influence

• Prose often signals a character’s loss of emotional control:

  • Cassio speaks in prose when drunk in Act 2 Scene 3

  • Othello’s speaking style shifts from blank verse to prose in Act 4 Scene 1 as he becomes convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity

  • Iago switches between blank verse and prose more than any other character, indicating the ease with which he uses rhetoric (opens in a new tab) to manipulate

Soliloquies

The purpose of a soliloquy is to take the audience into a character’s private world and to reveal thoughts they might not reveal to other characters.

• The first soliloquy in Othello belongs to Iago at the end of Act 1 Scene 3: here, the calm manner in which he speaks of his hatred for Othello is unsettling:

  • In Act 2 Scene 1, Iago’s soliloquy creates a complicit audience in his detailed plot for revenge

  • In Act 3 Scene 3, Iago revels in his employment of persuasive powers for evil: “The Moor already changes with my poison”

  • In Act 5 Scene 1, Iago lets audiences into his disturbing and smug sense of triumph: “Every way makes my gain”

• Othello’s soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 3, shows the tragic hero’s increasing inner torment: audiences see a suspicious, insecure, and destructive Othello:

  • The irony of his description of Iago as a fellow of “of exceeding honesty” illustrates Othello’s naïvete

  • In Act 5 Scene 2, Othello chillingly justifies his murder of Desdemona: “Put out the light, and then put out the light”

Imagery

Religious imagery (opens in a new tab) in Othello raises ideas of sin and forgiveness, often tying these concepts to images of light and dark, white and black.

• Iago is associated with images of hell from the start of the play:

  • In Act 1 Scene 3, he describes his plot against Othello as a “monstrous birth to the world’s light”, borne of “Hell and night”

  • In Act 2 Scene 3, he speaks proudly of his powers of deceit using oxymoron (opens in a new tab)

  • He says “When devils will the blackest sins put on, / They do suggest at first with heavenly shows”

• Shakespeare emphasises Desdemona’s innocence and purity with imagery: 

  • Emilia refers to her as “heavenly” in Act 5 Scene 2

  • In Act 2 Scene 1 Cassio terms her the “divine Desdemona”

  • Act 3 Scene 3, Othello describes Desdemona via a religious metaphor (opens in a new tab): “If she be false, o then heaven mocks itself”

  • Before murdering her, Othello refers to Desdemona’s skin as “whiter skin of hers than snow”

  • After Othello murders Desdemona, Emilia draws a direct comparison between them: she calls Othello, “O, the more angel she, and you the blacker devil!”

Characterisation

• Shakespearean tragedies often feature a tragic hero, a character of noble stature and outstanding qualities

• A tragic hero, according to Aristotle, is neither virtuous nor completely evil:

  • Othello is an intelligent and sophisticated noble gentleman: a general with military rank in the Venetian army

  • The tragic hero possesses a fatal flaw (hamartia) that leads to their downfall

  • Othello’s jealousy is evident in his turbulent relationship with Desdemona, as well as his excessive pride fuelled by insecurities over his race and status

  • Tragic heroes often struggle with internal conflicts and pressures from external forces: in this case, his jealousy spurred on by Iago’s villainy

• Antagonists (opens in a new tab) or villains represent the ills or injustices of contemporary society:

  • Iago is often considered Shakespeare’s most Machiavellian villain

  • He is cold and calculating, driven by ambition, hatred, and envy

  • He reveals a Venetian society flawed by racism, misogyny, and an obsessive desire for status and wealth

  • Willing to take any measures necessary to achieve success, he manipulates those around him

  • Like many of Shakespeare’s villains, Iago is remorseless and, while he acknowledges his sins, he does not make amends

• Like many of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Othello’s female characters find themselves in a world that affords them little agency:

  • Shakespeare’s Desdemona illustrates the rigid role of upper-class daughters

  • Brabanzio, her father, asks in Act 1 Scene 1 “how got she out?”

  • Desdemona’s name means “bad fortune”: Othello calls her “ill-starred”

  • She is depicted as virtuous, loyal, and forgiving 

  • While she is intelligent and independent, she is a victim of patriarchal standards of female sexuality

  • Othello values Iago’s words over hers and murders her in a jealous rage

• Emilia, Iago’s wife, is typical of many of Shakespeare’s outspoken female characters:

  • She questions gender stereotypes, proclaiming “Let husbands know / Their wives have sense like them”

  • She is the first to be accused of infidelity and is, ultimately, killed for speaking the truth

Sources:

Agarwal, Manisha. “Shakespere' representation of women.” International Journal of Advanced Academic Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, 2023, pp. 15-18, https://www.allstudyjournal.com/article/966/5-4-17-972.pdf (opens in a new tab). Accessed 26 April 2026.
Eagleton, Terry. Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic. 1 ed., Wiley Blackwell, 2002.