Othello

SETTING:
"Othello" is set in Venice, presumably sometime in the latter half of the sixteenth-century. Venice
was at war with the Ottoman empire. A second factor which may have informed Shakespeare’s
decision to set his play in Venice was the city’s reputation as a hub of prostitution.
OTHELLO'S FEATURES:
• the color of his skin, the moor
• his job, mercenary, a general
He is accepted because he defend Venice from Turkish.
MAIN CHARACTERS Othello:
the play’s protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice. In spite of his
elevated status, he is prey to insecurities, because of his race. He is a general in the Venetian
defense forces, and, although a foreigner from Africa, he has won this post by excellence in the field
of war.
Desdemona: the daughter of the venetian senator Brabantio. Desdemona and Othello are secretly
married before the play begins, she is a venetian noblewoman.
Iago: Othello’s ensign and the villain of the play.
Roderigo: a venetian nobleman, he is in love with Desdemona.
Cassio: Othello’s lieutenant.
Brabantio: Desdemona's father, a venetian senator.
Emilia: Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s attendant. She is the keys' character, because his husband,
Iago, had instructed her to take Desdemona’s handkerchief, especially important to Othello, so he
would suspect her of infidelity.
Bianca: a courtesan, or prostitute, in Cyprus. Bianca’s favorite customer is Cassio.
Montano: the governor of Cyprus.
Duke of Venice: the official authority in Venice.

SUMMARY: Iago
is furious about being overlooked for promotion and plots to take revenge against his General;
Othello, the Moor of Venice. Iago manipulates Othello into believing his wife Desdemona is
unfaithful, stirring Othello's jealousy. Othello allows jealousy to consume him, murders Desdemona,
and then kills himself.
THEMES Major
themes In Othello are love, jealousy, racial prejudice, appearance vs reality, expectations vs
outcome and intrigue.
LOVE: love is the main theme of the play. The marriage of Othello and Desdemona was based on
true love but Othello fails to recognize love of her wife. He is defeated in love at the end.
Desdemona’s love in friendship for Cassio is real but Othello interprets it as adulterous love. We
witness Emilia’s true love in friendship for Desdemona, she was killed by her husband, Iago, to
defend her.
ADULTERY: adultery is an underlying theme throughout the story. The female protagonist of the
play is wrongly accused of committing adultery. She receives cruel treatment from Othello, her
husband, and her character is put under suspicion from the very beginning of the story.
RACIAL PREJUDICE (STEREOTYPES): Othello is one of the most initial black heroes. He rises to power
in a white people dominated society and ultimately gets caught in a web created by their trickeries.
Othello is treated in a condescending manner by his wife’s father who believes that such a racially
different marriage can only be a result of witchcraft and trickery.
GENDER: antagonistic treatment of women highlights the gender biased society of that time. A
woman like Desdemona is entirely helpless irrespective of her numerous efforts to prove her
innocence. Women are treated with cruelty and hostility throughout the story.
MANIPULATION: this is the most major theme of the story as the play revolves around the
manipulation of almost all character of the story. Othello is manipulated to the extent of killing his
own wife. Rodrigo, too, falls victim to manipulation. Secondary characters like Emilia are also
influenced to contribute to the tragic ending of the story.
JEALOUSY: theme of jealousy also plays an important role in the play. Rodrigo, who wanted to
marry Desdemona, gets jealous of Othello and desires to kill Othello. Iago is also angry with Othello
because he has promoted Cassio above him and he is jealous of it. Othello becomes jealous of
Cassio when he mistakes him to be in affair with his wife.
ALIENATION: Othello alienated Iago by choosing Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago. Iago was
jealous of Cassio. Othello alienates himself away from Desdemona because he’s convinced that
she’s cheating on him like Iago said.
OVERCOMING LIMITS: because Iago overcome his limits for revenge.
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is often described as a "dark" or "problem" play, distinguished from the
earlier, more cheerful comedies by unpleasant characters and a sophisticated bitterness toward
human relations, all capped off with a "happy ending" that is nothing of the sort.
SUMMARY Helen heals
the King of France, and the King grants her permission to marry Bertram, the man she loves.
Bertram rejects her and leaves a list of tasks that she must do to have him acknowledge their
marriage. She follows him to Italy, completes all the tasks, and Bertram accepts her as his wife.

SETTING: Shakespeare
sets All’s Well That Ends Well in a mix of locations in France and Italy, with the French action being
spread across Roussillon, Paris and Marseille, and the Italian scenes happening in and around the
Renaissance city of Florence.
MAIN CHARACTERS Helena: the
play’s heroine. The orphan daughter of a great doctor, she is the ward of the Countess of
Roussillon, and hopelessly in love with the Countess’ son, Bertram.
Bertram: the Count of Roussillon since the death of his father, and the Countess’ only son.
Countess: the mother of Bertram, the mistress of Roussillon, and Helena’s guardian.
King of France: Bertram’s liege lord. He is deathly ill when the play begins, but he is miraculously
cured by Helena.
Lafew: an old French nobleman, who offers advice to the King and is friendly with the Countess.
Parolles: a companion of Bertram, he is a coward, a liar and a braggart.
First Lord: a genial French nobleman named Dumaine, he serves in the Florentine army and
becomes friends with Bertram.
THEMES SOCIAL
CLASSES: Shakespeare’s play takes place in a world with a rigid social hierarchy, reflecting the social
world of the early modern England in which Shakespeare lived. Society is divided along lines of
class, with the king at the very top, and under him various levels of noblemen, those who fall
somewhere in the middle (such as Helen), and lower-class soldiers and peasants.
REMEDY AND RESOLUTION: The title of All's Well that Ends Well marks the play's interest in positive
resolutions and happy endings. Indeed, one of the defining features of comedy as a genre is this
kind of happy ending that supposedly makes the problems of the play go away, such that all really is
well that ends well. There are many problems in the play that find strikingly easy or quick
resolutions.
CHARACTER AND JUDGMENT: Many characters in this play make faulty assumptions about a
person’s character, only to discover later that someone they thought to be one kind of person is
actually quite different.
GENDER ROLES: In addition to class distinctions, the social world of the play is structured also by a
rigid hierarchy of gender, in which men exercise power and women are assumed to be inferior to
men. But in this play, Shakespeare challenges traditional assumptions about gender in a variety of
ways. First of all, the show is full of intelligent and strong female characters.
MARRIAGE AND VERGINITY: The central plot revolves around Bertram and Helen’s marriage, and his
refusal to consummate their marriage. Shakespeare's play mocks traditional ideas about virginity as
a precious thing kept safe until marriage.
LIES AND DECEPTIONS: This play is full of dishonesty, from small lies to deliberate acts of deception
to an entire life built on deception. The play's storyline can be seen as a growing and continuing
series of deceptions and tricks that culminate in the final revelation of the truth in the final scene.

Love’s Labour’s Lost

SUMMARY After vowing to
avoid women, the King and three of his friends have to host a princess and her three ladies. The
four men fall in love and decide to court the women. In the end, the women must return to their
kingdom for a year after which they will marry the king and his friends, providing they remain true
to them.
THEMES LOVE:
the entire plot of the comedy revolves around love and various characters’ attempts at courtship.
At different points love is reckoned to be a distraction from what is truly important, however some
characters seek love with all their hearts.
LANGUAGE: nearly every line contains some pun which has the simple purpose of making the
audience laugh, in fact the characters try to communicate with each other, but end up taking
sentences the wrong way and playing on the various meanings of a word or phrase.
MEN AND WOMEN: Men and women operate in separate groups for much of the comedy for
Ferdinand’s oath to keep women out of his court.
INTELLIGENCE: In the comedy the characters representing different types of intelligence by pitting
these various types of intelligence against each other. Women are the most clever characters by
tricking men by wearing masks and exchanging their identities.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Ferdinand, King of Navarre: the most important of which will turn out to be receiving women at his
court.
Berowne, Longaville, Dumaine: three lords who have joined the king in his oath. They fall in love
with Rosaline, Maria and Katherine.
Princess of France: she is intelligent and a joyful woman.
Rosaline, Maria, Katherine: three ladies attending the princess who capture the fancy of the king’s
lord.
Boyet: a lord attending on the princess, he serves as a messenger to the king’s court.
Don Armado: he catches Costard and Jaquenetta in the forest and falls in love with Jaquenetta.
Costard: he is described as a «clown» and thus fill the role of the fool.
Jaquenetta: a country girl captured with Costard by Don Armado.

The Taming of the Shrew

SUMMARY: Lucentio loves
Bianca but cannot court her until her shrewish older sister Katherina marries. The eccentric
Petruccio marries the reluctant Katherina and uses a number of tactics to render her an obedient
wife. Lucentio marries Bianca and, in a contest at the end, Katherina proves to be the most
obedient wife.
THEMES MARRIAGE:
the play doesn't end with marriage, but there is an anticipation of life after marriage. The carefree
happiness of marriage is eternal and cannot change over time.
LOVE AND MONEY: there is a connection between love and money, for example Petruccio decides
to woo Katherine as soon as he discovers the amount of Battista's inheritance, or as Ortensio
decides to marry a rich widow.
DISGUISE AND ILLUSION: many characters disguise themselves as other people to be successful for
a time, but reality is revealed at the end of the play when Bianca's apparent sweetness (in contrast
to Katherine's rudeness) is subverted, and only Katherine shows herself as a loyal wife.
MAIN CHARACTERS Cristopher Sly:
he is a drunken coppersmith, tricked by a mischievous noble into thinking he really is a gentleman.
Katherine: she is the shrew of the comedy's title, she is sharp, short-tempered and prone to
violence against anyone who tries to marry her.
Bianca: she is the opposite of Katherine, she is calm, sweet and unpretentious. This is why so many
men want her hand.
Battista Minola: he is the father of Katherine and Bianca. He is good-natured even if a little
superficial.
Gremio and Ortensio: two gentlemen of Padua. They are Bianca's suitors at the beginning of the
opera.
Lucenzio: he is a young Pisan student, he falls in love with Bianca at first sight.
Petruccio: he is a gentleman from Verona. Loud, eccentric, witty and often drunk, he came to Padua
"to marry and prosper".
 Much Ado About Nothing
There are many themes running through this comedy by Shakespeare, including love, confusion and
the theme of 'nothing' itself. In this story of crossed wires, hidden identities and feelings, honor and
deceit, we are also presented with themes of friendship and marriage.
SUMMARY Count
Claudio falls in love with Hero, the daughter of his host. Hero’s cousin Beatrice (a confirmed
spinster) and Benedict (an eternal bachelor) are each duped into believing the other is in love with
them. Claudio is deceived by a malicious plot and denounces Hero as unchaste before they marry.
She faints and is believed dead, but recovers to be proved innocent by a chance discovery. Benedict
wins Beatrice’s love defending her cousin’s honor, and to his surprise, Claudio is reunited with Hero,
who he believed dead.
THEMES LOVE: it
is always involved with tricks, games and disguises;
CONFUSION;
NOTHING ITSELF: where the word «nothing» it’s also inside the title;
FRIENDSHIP;
MARRIAGE: is treated like a necessary thing and treated lightly as a constant source of jokes.

Merry Wives of Windsor

SUMMARY Falstaff
decides to fix his financial woe by seducing the wives of two wealthy merchants. The wives find he
sent them identical letters and take revenge by playing tricks on Falstaff when he comes calling.
With the help of their husbands and friends, the wives play one last trick in the woods to put
Falstaff's mischief to an end.
THEMES
CELEBRATION OF WOMEN: the premise of the play is that wives are permitted to be strong, spirited
and merry.
OUTSIDERS: anyone who comes outside the confines of Windsor are viewed with suspicion.
JEALOUSY: Ford is desperately jealous of his wife and is willing to dress in disguise as “Brooke” to
catch her out
REVENGE: for a comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor are unusually preoccupied with the idea of
getting even.
LIE AND DECEPTION: the aspiring cheater is usually the one who ends up being deceived.
MARRIAGE AND WEALTH: weddings from this period were mostly commercial transactions.
Macbeth
Macbeth is the shortest of Shakespeare’s tragedies, but there is no villain acting against the hero:
Macbeth is both. He begins as the heroic warrior but, led by ambition, he chooses evil.
SETTING It is
the only Shakespearean play set in Scotland in the 11th century. James I (Stuart dynasty) was
crowned king of England.
SUMMARY Three witches
tell the Scottish general Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth
kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people out of paranoia. Civil war erupts to
overthrow Macbeth, resulting in more death.
THEMES REGICIDE: an
act against nature that brigs about chaos and terrible weather condition, in fact the terms "blood",
"bloody" and "to bleed" are the most frequently used word in the play.
THE REVERSAL OF VALUES: "Fair is foul and foul is fair" represent the most dangerous aspect if
equivocation.
TIME: which progresses in a way pre-ordained, whatever action we take to change the future.
AMBITION: which is fueled by two factors: the prophecy of the three witches and the attitude of his
wife
SUPERNATURAL: it all starts with the witches, who offer the prophecy about Macbeth’s future.
Macbeth sees an apparition of a dagger, another element of the supernatural.
GUILT: Macbeth’s guilt over the murder of Duncan and Banquo leads him to commit more crimes in
order to cover up his acts. He is tormented by the guilt and concern over the consequences of his
actions and loses his grasp on reality.
FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY: Shakespeare explores how both genders are related to violence.
Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood when he waffles on his decision to kill Duncan.
WITCHCRAFT: the three witches
FIGHT OF GOOD AND EVIL: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
BETRAYAL OF FRIENDSHIP: Macbeth betrays his friend Banquo and the king and kills them.
TEAM OF DOUBLE: foul and fair, supernatural and natural, good and evil
MAIN CHARACTER MACBETH:
Thane of Glamis, he is a brave Scottish general in King Duncan’s army. However, upon hearing the
three witches’ prophecy that he would become King of Scotland, he becomes tyrannical. With his
wife’s help and encouragement he kills King Duncan
LADY MACBETH: even more ambitious and ruthless than her husband Macbeth, Lady Macbeth plots
to murder King Duncan upon hearing of the witches’ prophecy. She goads Macbeth into the evil
deed despite his hesitance, gives the guards drugged wine, and lays out the bloody daggers. Her
guilt soon turns her mad as well. She dies offstage in the final act, a supposed suicide. She is a dark
lady, physically unattractive, evil, ugly, but the poet finds her irresistibly desirable. Since Macbeth
didn’t give her a son, she wants him to make her queen.
THE THREE WITCHES: they are the morally ambiguous characters whose prophecies drive Macbeth
to his tyrannical desire for power.
MALCOLM: he is one of King Duncan’s sons and proclaimed heir to his throne.
BANQUO: Thane of Lochaber, he is a Scottish general known for his bravery like his friend Macbeth

Shakespeare’s Works: themes

STEREOTYPES
• The Merchant of Venice because there is the stereotype of the jew as in Shylock’s case;
• All’s Well That Ends Well because the protagonist wants to marry a man, but he doesn’t
want to because she is poor;
• Love’s Labor’s Lost because they considered men the most intelligent but it was opposite;
• Much Ado About Nothing because many characters have limitations for their genre.
• Othello because Othello wife’s father believes that such a racially different marriage can
only be a result of witchcraft.
METAMORPHOSIS
• Macbeth because Macbeth with his wife’s influence goes from good to bad;
• The Taming of the Shrew because the women were considered inferior to men and
Katherine destroys this stereotypes and refuses to be led by a man;
• The Merry Wives of Windsor it happens at hearn’s oak and is expressed by the fact that he
always cries but ironically.
OVERCOMING LIMITS
• Macbeth because he sees Banquo’s ghost;
• Romeo and Juliet because they kill themselves for families who don’t approve their love;
• Hamlet because he sees a father’s ghost who is talks him;
 • Othello because Iago overcome his limits for revenge.
ALIENATION
• Romeo and Juliet because they are estranged from their families to defend their love;
• Hamlet because Hamlet pretends to be crazy and talk about mental alienation;
• Macbeth because Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have visions and here too we speak of mental
alienation;
• The Merchant of Venice because of racial prejudice.
• Othello because Othello alienates himself away from Desdemona because he’s convinced
that she’s cheating on him.