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Your second essay will focus on William Shakespeare's play Othello. As with the previous essay, you will choose a topic, several of which I have listed below. Your thesis statement will be a statement of what you think Shakespeare is saying about that topic. This should be an opinion that anyone who has read the play could possibly disagree with. Therefore, be sure to make your thesis arguable, but don't make it far-fetched. Once again, you will write at least one thousand words to support your thesis. If you don't like any of the topics I've listed below, then choose your own. However, if you do choose your own topic, I will have to approve it before you start writing the essay. In your essay, do not waste any time speculating about Shakespeare's biography. We know too little about the poet to see his life reflected in his work. One other point: be sure to proofread your essay thoroughly.

Remember that the thesis must be an opinion of what you believe Shakespeare is saying about the topic, not your views about the topic. Use incidents and lines from the play to support your argument. When you quote lines from the text, document them according to these guidelines:

Introduce the quotation by letting your reader know who is speaking and to whom.
Use present tense verbs in your introduction. Remember that the play is always with us.
Example: In the play Julius Caesar, Caesar reveals his suspicion about Cassius when he says "Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. / He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous" (1. 2. 204-205). The numbers in parenthesis represent act one, scene two, lines 204 to 205. The / indicates where one line ends and another begins.
If you choose a quotation of longer than four lines of poetry, then separate the quotation ten spaces from the left margin of your text. You should not use quotation marks for a long quotation. The indentation tells the reader that you are quoting. Such a quotation would look like the following:

In the play Measure for Measure, the Duke explains to the Friar--and to the audience--the moral laxity from which Vienna has suffered under his rule:

We have strict statues and most biting laws,

The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,

Which for this fourteen years we have let slip,

Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave

That goes not out to prey. (1. 3. 20-24)

If you are quoting passages that are in prose, then don't use the / between lines.
A maximum of 15 % of your paper should appear in quotation marks, and keep your long quotations to a minimum.

The above form of documentation is referred to as in-text documentation. To complement it, you will also have to include a works cited page at the end of your paper. The citation for your Shakespeare play will appear as follows:

Of course, if you use outside sources--these are not required--you must document them in-text and put them in the works cited page, alphabeized. Remember that you are responsible for documenting all direct quotations from the text of the play, as well as any borrowed material you incorporate into your paper from any source. Failure to acknowledge sources will lead you to plagiarism, also defined and discussed on my website. For further information about how and what to document, and how to avoid plagiarism, visit my website.

1. Throughout the years, the character Iago has been an enigma to Shakespearean scholars. To be sure, Shakespeare gives reasons for Iago's villainy--he was overlooked for a promotion, he suspects that Othello has slept with Emilia, and he himself is in love with Desdemona--but none of these reasons seem convincing. Write an essay in which you establish and argue convincingly what the nature of evil is in Iago.

2. Othello has a heroic background as a general. The government of Venice has placed great faith in his judgment. Montano, the out-going governor of Cyprus, praises Othello's character and leadership. What is it then, in a man so well-respected, that makes him so vulnerable to Iago's machinations, that convinces Othello to turn his love for Desdemona into jealousy and hatred?

3. In her book Shakespeare After All, Marjorie Garber says that Othello lives behind his public image too much to acknowledge that he, too, can be suseptible to passion. She says that Othello "distrusts the personal [self], and takes refuge in the public self" (603). This denial, she says, is at least partially responsible for his tragedy. Argue for or against this idea.

4. As we mentioned in class, Desdemona is probably fifteen or sixteen. She is innocent and naive. As Marjorie Garber remarks, she "is perhaps flawed in being too flawless for the world of tragedy" (604). Create an argument in which you prove that Desdemona is responsible for the tragedy that occurs in the play.