Love Through the Ages

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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:

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.