Hello, everyone.

Thanks for joining me in today's lesson where we'll be exploring the theme of jealousy in "Othello".

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Your learning outcome for today is to be able to identify a variety of evidence to support an explorative study of a theme.

And the theme we'll be looking at today is jealousy.

We have five keywords today.

Let's go through them together.

Cuckolded.

When a man's wife has been unfaithful, he has been cuckolded.

Chaste.

To be chaste can mean not having any sexual desire or intentions.

Catalyses.

To catalyse something means to cause something to happen.

Contest.

To contest means to debate or oppose.

And emasculation.

Emasculation is the process of making a man feel less male by taking away his power and confidence.

Pause the video and note down the keywords that you aren't familiar with.

Great.

We have two learning cycles today.

In the first learning cycle, we'll talk about jealousy as a symptom of society.

We'll be exploring how jealousy in the play Othello is contingent on many other factors.

And then we'll be exploring jealousy and the role it plays in Othello's downfall.

So let's start off with looking at jealousy as a symptom of society.

First of all, I want you to think about which moments in Othello links to the theme of jealousy.

Pause the video and discuss that now.

Now you may have said Iago at the beginning of the play is jealous of Cassio's promotion.

Next, Othello thinks Desdemona has been unfaithful, so he is jealous of her supposed affair with Cassio.

Next, Bianca believes Cassio has been unfaithful to her when she finds the handkerchief in his room.

And Iago also is jealous that Othello may have slept with his wife, Amelia.

So there are four moments of jealousy in the play "Othello".

Jealousy is therefore a significant theme because it not only drives the tragic hero, Othello's fatal actions, but also catalyses Iago to manipulate Othello in the first place.

Think about it like this.

At the beginning of the play, Iago complains that Othello promoted Cassio and not him.

And Iago complains that Amelia and Othello may have slept together.

This means that Iago hates Othello, and thus his manipulation of Othello begins.

So we can see there how jealousy catalyses Iago's actions.

Which character's jealousy catalyses all other crucial events in the play? Pause the video and answer that question to check your understanding of what we've talked about so far.

Well done if you said Iago's jealousy of Amelia's supposed infidelity catalyses all the other crucial events in the play.

Remember, we said that is because Iago thinks Othello and Amelia had an affair.

He is motivated to manipulate Othello through the emotion of jealousy.

Now let's look at jealousy as a symptom of society.

So we can see how jealousy affects a lot of characters in the play.

But arguably, in the play, jealousy does not occur in isolation.

There are several underlying causes for each character's jealousy.

And the underlying causes of jealousy in the play for each character can be linked back to the society's ideals and beliefs.

So let's look at this example.

Both Othello and Iago are driven to act in devastating ways by their jealousy.

Othello thinks Desdemona has been unfaithful and he becomes very jealous and violent towards her.

And Iago says that there's a rumour that Othello slept with his wife, so Iago decides to manipulate Othello in a cunning way.

What links the jealousy of these two men? How is their jealousy similar? Pause the video and have a think.

You may have said that both Iago and Othello are jealous of their wives' supposed infidelity.

I now want you to think about what societal beliefs or ideals causes the jealousy directed at their wives.

So what about society and the beliefs and values of Jacobean society might make their jealousy so damaging? Pause video and have a think.

Now, both Iago and Othello's jealousy directed at their wives could be caused by the societal expectation in the Jacobean era that women should obey their husbands and be chaste.

So this means that Iago and Othello both believe that their wives have broken the expectations of what women should be like, and this angers them.

In addition, Jacobean society attach stigma to being cuckolded.

So unfaithful wives will proceed to have destroyed their husband's honour, leading to humiliation and emasculation, fueling all-consuming jealousy.

So the two men use jealousy as a way to almost gain control of the situation that they're in.

They feel like they're losing their masculine qualities and losing control over their relationship, and jealousy is the result.

In the next part of the lesson, we will zoom in to the jealousy of the male characters because their jealousy is shown to have the most detrimental effect in the play.

Now, answer this question to check your understanding so far.

In "Othello", the characters' jealousy has no foundation.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said that's false.

In "Othello", the characters' jealousy definitely does have a foundation.

Now justify your answer.

Pause the video and have a think.

The reason why the characters' jealousy does have foundations is because the characters' jealousy is a symptom of societal expectations and beliefs.

The foundation governing all of their jealousy, arguably, is society's expectations and beliefs.

Now I want you to have a go at these tasks.

Firstly, quickly recall what Jacobean societal beliefs and expectations relevant to "Othello" have we explored? Secondly, write each example of jealousy in the middle of a blank page.

I then want you to annotate which societal beliefs or expectations are relevant to that example of jealousy and why.

So here on the screen there is a recap of all the examples of jealousy that we explored.

Pause the video and complete those three tasks.

Let's look at this first example of jealousy in the play.

Othello's jealousy over Desdemona's supposed affair with Cassio.

Now, what contextual ideas link to this specific example of jealousy? Firstly, the insularity of Jacobean society.

Othello is an outsider or he's perceived as an outsider in the play, which may fuel his insecurity and jealousy.

He feels like he's not good enough for Desdemona and therefore, that makes him more jealous and suspicious of what she may be doing with Cassio.

Next, female chastity, the expectation that Jacobean women should be chaste is also an a belief that fuels Othello's jealousy here.

Othello views Desdemona as impure after she has been unfaithful.

It angers him to think that she's going against what he expected her to be in the marriage.

Male dominance also feeds into this example of jealousy.

At the time of Shakespeare's writing, men would believe.

Men believed to be cuckolds were mocked due to the emasculation it was associated with.

So Othello's jealousy is made even more severe by his insecurity of being cuckolded.

And lastly, female obedience is also a contextual factor that links Othello's jealousy here.

Women were expected to obey men.

Female infidelity was seen as female disobedience.

Again, making a man feel as if they do not have the dominance and control they are expected to have in their marriage.

Now, Iago's jealousy of Cassio at the beginning of the play when Cassio gets promoted, which contextual ideas are relevant here? Male dominance, again, is relevant in this example of jealousy.

Iago as a male character may feel he needs to uphold his reputation through his military success.

He feels jealous that Cassio is able to uphold his reputation through getting a promotion.

Now, I want you to look at again at all the examples of jealousy you've written down.

Which societal expectations are relevant to them? I want you to tick all that apply.

I then want you to answer this question, which societal expectation fuels the most examples of jealousy in the play, and what could Shakespeare's message be based on that? Pause the video and complete those two tasks.

Now in Othello's jealousy over Desdemona, we see female chastity, male dominance and pride, and the insular society affecting his jealousy or fueling his jealousy.

In Iago's jealousy over Amelia, we see female chastity and male dominance and pride also contributing to his jealousy.

And lastly, in Iago's jealousy of Cassio, we see male dominance and pride fuel jealousy there.

Therefore, we can see that male dominance and pride fuels the most jealousy in the play.

Perhaps Shakespeare is exposing the flaws of the patriarchy and how excess male pride and dominance can have dangerous, even fatal outcomes.

Now let's look at jealousy and how it contributes to Othello's downfall.

It is widely assumed that Othello's fatal flaw or hamartia, jealousy leads to his tragic end.

But if we want to be critically evaluative, we can contest this idea.

Remember to contest means to debate or oppose.

Based on our learning that all jealousy has a deeper root, let's contest the idea that jealousy leads to Othello's downfall.

So I want you to discuss this question.

What other factors contribute to Othello's jealousy, and thus play a role in Othello's downfall? Think about how society was structured and the expectations posed on men and women.

Pause the video and discuss.

Now you may have mentioned the insular Venetian society that holds prejudices against outsiders may have contributed to Othello's insecurity.

And this makes him more vulnerable to the idea that Desdemona has been unfaithful and more jealous as he fears he cannot live up to her expectations.

So we could therefore say the insular Venetian society actually contributes to Othello's downfall, perhaps more so than jealousy.

Indeed, we could also say that male pride and dominance, as well as limiting expectations of women also link to Othello's downfall.

Which idea here can be contested? That Iago manipulates Othello? That Othello is consumed with.

That Othello is consumed with jealousy? That jealousy is the sole catalyst for Othello tragic end? Or that male pride affects Othello's jealousy? Pause the video and answer that question.

Well done if you said we can contest the idea that jealousy is the sole catalyst for Othello's tragic end.

Remember, that's because we could say the insular society and how Othello is made to feel as an outsider is a catalyst for a fellow's tragic end.

We could also say male pride and dominance and limiting expectations of women are also catalysts for Othello's tragic end because they really do fuel his jealousy.

Now I want you to use the discussion grid to help formalise your discussions about jealousy as a catalyst for Othello's downfall.

First of all, you need to contest the idea that jealousy is the catalyst for Othello's downfall.

So you might use the sentence starter, although, whereas, or whilst, and your idea might look a bit like, "Whilst jealousy is generally considered to be the catalyst for Othello's tragic end, it could be attributed to societal flaws.

The next thing you need to do is develop your ideas, provide some examples and proof.

You might start that off by saying more specifically, more precisely, or in particular.

So for example, "More specifically, Othello may fall victim to jealousy because he's made to feel more insecure about his relationship due to his outsider status.

Lastly, you need to draw conclusions to your arguments.

Some good words to start off your conclusion may be therefore or ultimately.

Here is an example conclusion.

"Therefore, we can propose that Othello's tragic end is due to societal flaws such as prejudice and insularity since these fuel his insecurity and jealousy." Now pause the video and use the discussion grid to help formulate your discussions about jealousy as a catalyst for Othello's downfall.

Off you go.

I heard some really great discussions there.

I'm really impressed by how you are learning to be critically evaluative.

Let's look at Sam's discussion.

"Despite jealousy being Othello's hamartia, it is arguably his outsider status that contributes most to his downfall.

More specifically, perhaps Iago manages to convince Othello of Desdemona's infidelity due to Othello's social inexperience.

Moreover, Othello's romantic experience may lead him to misplace his trust.

Therefore, Othello's hamartia is his outsider status." What did Sam do well and what could be improved about Sam's discussion? Pause the video and think about that question Now, Sam's discussion was initiated well with a clear idea and justification.

Sam's conclusion could be improved.

Let's take a look.

Sam's conclusion could be improved because at the moment, it confuses and seems to change the opening idea.

The beginning of Sam's discussion starts by saying that jealousy is Othello's hamartia, but his outsider status contributes most to his downfall.

But Sam's conclusion contradicts this.

Sam's conclusion says Othello's hamartia is his outsider status.

So Sam could improve that by allowing the conclusion to combine all thoughts and ideas to create a clear summary, not changing the opening idea.

Tell your partner how you would rephrase Sam's conclusion.

Pause the video and discuss.

Here's how you may have rephrased Sam's conclusion.

You may have said, "Therefore, Othello's outsider status may be more damaging to him than the emotion of jealousy itself." Now that's a great conclusion because it's in line with the argument that Sam initiated.

Here's what we've learned today.

Shakespeare argues that jealousy doesn't occur in isolation, but is a product of the flaws of society.

Male dominance and pride permeates most of the jealousy in the play, and you could argue that Othello's downfall is not caused by jealousy alone, but actually, societal factors and influences.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope to see you in another one soon.