IB English Group Blog

Monday, April 16, 2007

Setting

Merchant of Venice

Venice - Urban city, concerned with the material world - the main plot takes place here; the bond, the loss of Antonio's ships.
-Scenes take place in streets (plot is focused, moving in a straight line) or buildings (the characters are "trapped" in the plot)

Belmont - Pretty, "magical" place, concerned with matters of the heart - where Bassanio and Portia, and Gratiano and Nerissa fall in love, also where Jessica and Lorenzo elope.
-Some scenes take place in gardens - connection with nature, open spaces, and freedom - free from the restrictions of society, freedom for characters to "be themselves".
-Music in some scenes adds a sense of being joyful and carefree. Act 5 Scene 1 (p. 83) - "Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn:/With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,/And draw her home with music."

1590s - The Jews had very few rights, could not own property, etc. They were segregated from the Christians, forced to live in the ghetto. It was this racism, encouraged at the time period, which allowed for the whole plot to come to pass, due to the lack of respect between Anotnio and Shylock.
- Also, women have fewer rights, which is why Portia and Jessica are expected to listen to their fathers, and are not really allowed to marry whoever they like. Act 1 Scene 2 (p. 9) - "So is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father." This is also why Portia and Nerissa must dress as men in order to be taken seriously in the court.


Othello

The play starts in Venice, where Civilization is orderly and lawful, people are considered responsible for their actions, as Othello was for his marriage to Desdemona - he had to defend himself to the Court. This social attitude reflects Othello's own character at this point in the plot.

The action then moves to Cyprus, where order is guarded less closely, people are not necessarily forced to defend themselves, they can get away with things. This reflects the characters of Othello and Iago, who do not worry about defending their actions, but only of having their revenge for the wrongs supposedly done to them. Furthermore, at this point in the play, it is not necessarily clear that it is a tragedy, so one could think that Cyprus is the "magical" place where the newlyweds go after their marriage, and that the play will be a romance/comedy.

There is also a shift from the outside to the inside - at the beginning there are scenes which take place outside, where the characters are free and acting for themselves. As time goes on, however, more and more scenes take place inside, giving the sense that the characters are trapped, ensnared in Iago's web of lies.

Being inside all the time also leads to a sense of isolation; only a few characters are in one room at the same time. This allows for all the secrecy to go on, characters cannot interact properly to find out what is really going on, and Iago can isolate whomever he wants whenever he wants to plant the next lie.

Very early 1600s - There is much more racism than there is today, Othello would be a target for many, such as Iago, simply because of his race.
- Fewer women's rights, which explains why Othello believes Iago over Desdemona.



Travis and Chris will post setting notes for Doll's House, Pygmalion and The Lion and the Jewel sometime soon.

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