Setting
English Lit: AQA A Level Othello, topic 1.3.1
The Setting of Othello
Setting and place take a central and symbolic role in Othello like in many of Shakespeare’s other plays.
Setting in Othello
- Shakespeare’s plays often took place in foreign countries such as France and Italy, inspired by Britain’s naval expansion and exploration at the time.
- There are two very different settings:
- Venice in Italy.
- Cyprus.
- Both represent hugely different ‘worlds’ and the shift in the setting in the play is reflected in shifts in plot, action and characterisation.
Venice
- Venice was a hugely influential commercial seaport in Italy in the sixteenth century.
- It took an active role in much of the Italian Renaissance literature, music, and architecture of the time.
Venice cont.
- Venice was also symbolic of political factionalism, intrigue and moral corruption, even though Venetian society was generally orderly, civilised and formal as suggested in the first Act of Othello.
- Often, playwrights used Venice as a setting to represent cultural sophistication.
Cyprus
- In contrast, Cyprus represents a much more unstable, violent setting.
- It was controlled by Venice but had been invaded by Turkey in 1570.
- King James I was very interested in Turkish history.
Cyprus cont.
- Shakespeare uses this Turkish threat as a pretext to change the play’s setting to be much more isolated, unordered and claustrophobic, which then serves to intensify the ominous, foreboding atmosphere as tragedy unfolds and order is destroyed.
Prosecution
- Some critics believe that Shakespeare set many of his plays in exotic or invented locations so as not to be prosecuted for, in fact, writing about controversial issues in Britain.
- Certainly, many of the plays contain ideas that are distinctly British and these values are just transferred to other locations (real or imagined).