Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students dive deep into Shakespeare’s Othello and examine the play’s themes, action, and characters through the lens of jealousy. How does Shakespeare portray jealousy? How do different personality types react to their feelings of jealousy? How dangerous of an emotion is jealousy? Can jealousy ever be helpful? What warnings, if any, does Shakespeare present about the power of jealousy?

Materials

  • Othello by William Shakespeare
    Buy Now

Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following Real-Life Links to use in an engagement activity. Have students read or listen and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

What is jealousy?  

How do different personality types respond to jealousy?

Engagement Activity

Have students write quick initial answers to the questions. Then discuss the questions, either as a class or in small groups. Prompt students to consider the relationship between jealousy and the emotions of fear and insecurity. Encourage students to compare and contrast how two different people might react to similar fears or insecurities. Following discussion, give students time to revise their initial responses, and ask volunteers to share what they wrote with the class.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about jealousy and what they’re interested in exploring further. 

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions as they read Othello. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities and classroom discussion of the text. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence.

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions.  

1. What reasons does Iago give for his destructive actions toward Othello? 

2. What fears or insecurities could be intensifying Iago’s jealousy? 

3. Do the reasons that Iago gives for his actions seem commensurate with the outcomes of those actions? 

4. How do Roderigo’s attitudes and actions in respect to Cassio and Othello compare and contrast with Iago’s?

5. What language does Iago use to express his jealousy toward Othello? 

6. How do Othello’s outward demeanor and his feelings toward Desdemona change as the play unfolds? 

7. What steps does Iago take to infect Othello’s mind with jealousy and doubt?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: Personal Experience

In this activity, students will describe a time when they felt jealous.

Ask students to write a paragraph about a time when they felt jealous. (If you feel that students might be uncomfortable writing about their own experiences, have them write about someone they know or about a character in a story or film.) In their paragraphs, students should note what provoked their jealousy, explain how they worked through the feeling, and then describe the result. 

Pair students and have partners share their paragraphs. Encourage pairs to return to the Big Idea Questions and consider how their experiences informed their initial answers. 

Invite three or four students to share their paragraphs with the class. Prompt whole-class discussion with questions such as: Was the jealousy a result of insecurities or fears? Were the outcomes of actions taken in reaction to the jealousy positive or negative? Can jealousy ever be a “good” thing? Was it for you? 

Before moving on, explain that students will explore Shakespeare’s treatment of jealousy and its powerful effect on human behavior through his use of characterization, plot, and language as they read Othello.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Begin by having students define jealousy. Then, rather than having all students write about a personal experience, ask two or three volunteers to describe their experiences orally to the class. Proceed with discussion as outlined above.

Increase difficulty

Have students write short personal essays about an experience of jealousy. Ask two or three students to read their essays to the class and proceed with discussion as outlined above.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the text. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Characterization: Iago

Students will trace Shakespeare’s characterization of Iago through Iago’s soliloquies in Acts 1 and 2. Students will:

identify and analyze Iago’s soliloquies for characterization. How does Shakespeare use Iago’s own speeches to show viewers who Iago is? In their analyses, students should examine Iago’s jealousy of Cassio and Othello and what internal fears or insecurities could be driving Iago’s jealousy. 

Write an essay or develop an oral presentation to present their analyses.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students analyze Act 1 for characterization of Iago and complete the Who Is Iago? Idea Web by writing facts and inferences about Iago drawn from the text in the outer circles.

Increase difficulty

As part of their oral presentations, have students develop performances of the soliloquies that support their analyses of the text.

Activity 2: Make Predictions

Students will make predictions about what will occur in the remainder of the text. Students will: 

  • Make predictions about what will occur in the final acts of the play. 

  • Return to their predictions when they have completed their reading and confirm or correct their predictions.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading the complete text of Othello. Project 1 can be completed by students working individually or in pairs, while Project 2 calls for small groups.

Final Project 1: Iago Versus Othello

Students will trace the stages of Iago’s jealousy-fueled manipulation of Othello and Othello’s responses and relate these plot elements to the play’s major themes. Students will: 

  • Review the text and note the actions Iago takes to provoke Othello. What precisely does Iago do and say that drives Othello to his jealous rage? 

  • Note Othello’s responses. What does Othello say directly to Iago in response to Iago’s insinuations about Cassio and Desdemona? What actions does Othello take in response to Iago’s manipulations? 

  • Explain how these actions and interchanges between Othello and Iago contribute to the play’s major themes of jealousy. 


Organize their findings in the Action and Response Chart.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in pairs and limit the scope of the text examination to Acts 1‒3.

Increase difficulty

To present their findings, have students develop a flowchart that shows not only cause-and-effect relationships, but also the cumulative nature of Iago’s manipulations.

Final Project 2: On Trial

Students will work in small groups to write and perform Othello, Act 5, Scene 3, in which Othello is put on trial for the murder of Desdemona. Students will: 

  • Write an additional scene for the play in which Othello has been returned to Venice from Cyprus and is tried for the murder of Desdemona in the court of the Duke of Venice. 

  • Develop arguments both against and supporting Othello, using jealousy as the keystone to both sides’ arguments. 

  • Perform the scene for the class.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Help groups assign project roles so that all students are performing tasks within their abilities.

Increase difficulty

Before they write their scenes, have students research the legal system of the Republic of Venice in the late sixteenth century to develop a historically-plausible form for the trial.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments. 

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

Downloads