7.2.1

Roderigo & Brabantio

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Roderigo

Roderigo is a fool and a dupe.

Roderigo

Roderigo

  • Roderigo is paying Iago money to give him information about Desdemona, who he wishes to marry.
  • Brabantio has already rejected him as a suitor but this does not stop his pursuit of her.
Iago

Iago

  • Roderigo is often melancholic and full of self-pity, lamenting his own situation.
  • However, there is no room for his development and so he is killed.
  • Iago has played him for most of the play.
  • It is only when he faces mortality that he realises Iago’s true nature.
Love and tragedy

Love and tragedy

  • Roderigo believes that love can be bought and paid for, but he comes to understand that it cannot be.
  • His function in the tragic plot is to be duped by Iago, and this contributes to his death.

Brabantio

A ‘reverend signor’ Brabantio is an elderly man whose daughter is Desdemona.

Brabantio

Brabantio

  • Brabantio is a respected figure in Venetian society. He is distraught when he learns that Desdemona has married a Moor.
  • He views him as having stolen her (so she is his property) and that he has achieved this through witchcraft.
Racism

Racism

  • Brabantio offers much of the racist abuse in the play.
  • He orders Othello to appear before the Duke of Venice to justify himself in a kind of trial.
  • He is very forthright and opinionated.
Mirrored emotions

Mirrored emotions

  • Brabantio's slide into despair is matched by Othello’s happiness at being married to Desdemona.
  • We learn of his death later in the play.
Love

Love

  • Brabantio is an important character in terms of restricting love and not permitting marriage.
Tragedy

Tragedy

  • The play implies that is dissatisfaction with his daughter’s choice of husband throws him into such despair that he dies.
  • Interestingly, retrospectively the audience may see that his concerns over Desdemona and Othello’s pairing were right: he foresaw that tragedy and chaos might result from their union.
Jump to other topics
1

Context

1.1

Introduction

1.1.1Specifications
1.2

Background

1.2.1Shakespeare1.2.2Love1.2.3Tragedy1.2.4Historical Context
1.3

Othello

1.3.1Setting1.3.2Social Issues
2

Act One: Summaries & Themes

2.1

Act and Scene Summaries

2.1.1Structure2.1.2The Exam
2.2

Scene One

2.2.1Key Events2.2.2Key Themes2.2.3Key Ideas
2.3

Scene Two

2.3.1Key Events2.3.2Key Themes2.3.3Key Ideas
2.4

Scene Three

2.4.1Key Events2.4.2Key Events 22.4.3Key Themes2.4.4Key Ideas
3

Act Two: Summaries & Themes

3.1

Scene One & Two

3.1.1Scene One: Events3.1.2Key Events 23.1.3Key Ideas: Love & Tragedy3.1.4Scene Two: Events
3.2

Scene Three

3.2.1Key Events3.2.2Key Ideas
4

Act Three: Summaries & Themes

4.1

Key Events

4.1.1Scene One & Two4.1.2Scene Three4.1.3Scene Three: Key Ideas4.1.4Scene Four
5

Act Four

5.1

Scene One

5.1.1Key Events5.1.2Key Ideas
5.2

Scene Two

5.2.1Key Events5.2.2Key Ideas
5.3

Scene Three

5.3.1Key Events5.3.2Key Ideas
6

Act Five

6.1

Scene One

6.1.1Key Events6.1.2Key Ideas
6.2

Scene Two

6.2.1Key Events6.2.2Key Ideas
7

Character Profiles

7.1

Major Characters

7.1.1Othello7.1.2Iago7.1.3Desdemona7.1.4Emilia7.1.5Cassio
7.2

Minor Characters

7.2.1Roderigo & Brabantio7.2.2Other Characters
8

Key Themes

8.1

Love & Tragedy

8.1.1Love8.1.2Love 28.1.3Tragedy8.1.4Tragedy 2
8.2

Other Key Themes

8.2.1Public versus Private8.2.2Appearance & Reality
9

Writing Techniques

9.1

Writing Techniques

9.1.1Structure9.1.2Genre9.1.3Form & Language9.1.4Language & Imagery
10

Critical Debates

10.1

Criticism & Performance

10.1.1Shakespeare's Legacy10.1.2Traditional10.1.3Modern & Contemporary
10.2

Approaches

10.2.1Feminist Approach10.2.2Psychoanalytic Approach10.2.3Marxist Approach
11

Approaching AQA English Literature

11.1

Specification A

11.1.1Specification A11.1.2Love Through the Ages
11.2

Specification B

11.2.1Specification B11.2.2Aspects of Tragedy
12

Issues of Assessment

12.1

The Exams

12.1.1AOs12.1.2Mark Scheme

Practice questions on Roderigo & Brabantio

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  1. 1
    What does Roderigo finally realise at the end of the play?Multiple choice
  2. 2
    Features of Brabantio's characterTrue / false
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Cassio

Other Characters