Grade:
12
Course: AP Literature and Composition
Unit 3: The Tragedy of Othello
Unit Overview
Throughout this unit, students will learn to analyze how playwrights employ elements of drama. They will also apply elements of drama such as setting, dramatic irony,
monologue, and aside their own presentations. By comparing several different productions of Othello, students will appreciate the ways motif, blocking and diction can
convey various tones and themes. While reading the play in small groups, students will notate the text using a Cornell notes format. Students will synthesize what they
have learned about dramatic elements by modifying and presenting a scene from Othello. For the Unit End Product, students will analyze Shakespeare’s purposeful
choices in figurative language in a brief excerpt from Othello.
Learning Goals
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Students will…
understand how to analyze the significance of motif in a play.
integrate research-based information into a text.
become familiar with sound research methods and documentation.
analyze how playwrights use figurative language.
Essential Questions
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How do audiences infer meaning through various dramatic elements?
How can readers assess the reliability of narrators in works of fiction and the
reliability of sources of non-fiction?
Does modifying an original text enhance or detract from the audience’s ability
to comprehend and appreciate a play?
How does setting influence the audience’s impression of the plot and
characters in a play?
A.P. Literature Standards
After successfully completing this course, the student will:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of connotation, metaphor, irony, syntax, and tone as resources of language.
2. Apply critical standards independently, orally and in writing, to specific literary works.
3. Use effective rhetorical strategies in writing tasks.
4. Write for a variety of purposes, and in a variety of modes and styles.
5. Explain the relationships among styles, subjects, and audiences in writing and in literature.
6. Recognize relationships between literary works and the contemporary experience and/or historical contexts.
Unit End Product:
In a small group, select a scene from Othello from a teacher –created list. Your group will modify and present the scene to the class. First, decide how you will change
the setting of the play. Choose a specific, significant period in human history ex. Cold War Era Soviet Union, Ancient Greece, The Viking Age etc… Any location and
time period other than Venice and Cyprus during the late 1500’s acceptable.
After choosing a new setting for your scene, conduct research on your group’s historical period. Locate reliable research sources and prepare to cite your sources in a
written analysis of your group’s setting and motifs. Minimally alter dialect to establish your scene’s new setting and motifs. Your modified text must include dialect and
motifs specific to the historical period your group researched. Do not change the overall meaning of the text, but do express the same plot points and ideas using
occasional dialect indicative of your group’s chosen period. Each member of your group must play a specific role or duty while preparing for the project. Roles include:
Director, Actor, Cinematographer, Set Designer
Present your group’s scene to the class. During the presentation, your group must demonstrate fluency, evidence of research and overall preparation. You may choose to
either film your presentation or give a live performance.
Each member of the group must also create a written analysis of the group’s scene and a clear explanation of how choices in motif and dialect are research based.
Texts
The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare
Sample Mini-Task
What’s This Play About?
• Create a scene of 5 minutes or less including
at least 8 of the 11 pre-selected quotations
from Othello
• Most of the dialogue in your scene will be in
the form of modern language
• Your scene should predict the plot of Othello
• Include a logical plot structure
• Incorporate one or more of the themes listed
below
• You may either use cue cards or memorize
your lines
Themes:
Jealousy is destructive.
It is foolish to believe information from unreliable
sources.
Defining others in terms of their “otherness”
promotes marginalization and intolerance.
Othello Tableau
Read the name and brief descriptions on your cast of
characters “hat”
Look up any unfamiliar terms used to describe your
character
Working as a group (the red group and the blue
group) create a tableau that represents the following
aspects of the play Othello:
Sample Extended Tasks
Othello Presentation Peer Reviews
During the presentations, the audience will take
notes summarizing each scene and identifying the
possible time period in which the scene is set. When
identifying the possible setting of the scene, use
specific evidence related to motif and dialect from
the group’s presentation to support your hypothesis.
Othello Notes
Throughout our reading of Othello, each group
member will take Cornell notes identifying all of the
following:
Major characters and plot points
Assigned motifs and themes
Role-based notes
Upper Level Thinking Questions
“Best” Quotations
Revision of Cornell Notes
Summary
ACT Quizzes
Quizzes written in an AP Lit exam format will
follow reading and discussing each ACT in class
Power structure
Relationships among characters
Jealousy
Deception
ACT I sc 1 lines 1-65 Timed Writing
What techniques does Shakespeare use to characterize
Iago in the passage below? (lines 1-65 ACT I
provided). Prompt is notated and discussed in class
prior to timed writing
ACT III Timed Writing
What techniques does Shakespeare use to characterize
Desdemona in the passage below? Students may use
their Othello Cornell notes. No preview of prompt.
ACT V Timed Writing
What techniques does Shakespeare use to characterize
Othello in the passage below? No notes; no preview of
prompt.