Year 12 Lit Half Term Homework!

Over half term, you need to research the idea of religion as it related to the Elizabethan period (when Shakespeare was writing). You will produce at least two A4 sheets of material. This material can include quotations from articles, books and web pages but must not simply be copied and pasted from a web page. You will need to select information carefully based on how relevant it is to Othello and the period in general.

I will ask everyone in the first lesson back to present their material for the class (around two minutes, just share what you have found - I will try to have a visualiser to display it). The most complete and useful work will be shared for everyone's folders.

To help you, here is a list of questions to think about as you are finding information:

Is Othello himself a Christian?
Why is it important that he is/isn't?
What was the dominant religion in the Elizabethan period?
What had gone before in terms of religious change?
What would happen to people who were not of the correct faith?
How can Iago be seen in religious terms?
What did religion have to say about the role of women?
What does 'redemption' mean in a Christian context?

You don't have to go through and answer all these questions, but try to link your information to Othello wherever possible.

This is due for the Wednesday (3rd November) after half term, so you have plenty of time. The library has many books available if you want to leave some for the Monday or Tuesday. However, here are a number of places to start:

This BBC page gives information about the religious situation before and during Elizabeth's reign. It's quite in-depth, so if you need to scroll down to the bottom and just read the last couple of sections, that will give you some good background.

This page gives information about Catholics in Elizabethan times.

This is a critical essay about race and religion in Othello.

For slightly more fictional background reading, Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons is an excellent exploration of religion and conscience in the reign of Henry VIII, which looks at issues of religious identity and truth. Basic information can be found here, and the play has also been made into two film versions.

You could also pull out key quotations about religion and God from the play so far.

Obviously I have read all the sources provided, so I'm expecting to see evidence of independent research - the links are just a starting point. Don't just print the page and bring it!

Many thanks and I hope you all have a fantastic half term.

Shakespeare

Just to get us started...

The following are useful, interesting or simply entertaining links about Shakespeare. Have a look around and see if you can find anything that interests you.

The boring bit(for AS students). Reading around the subject will help you gather material for:

AO3 - Explore connections and comparisons between different literary texts, informed by interpretations of other readers
AO4 - Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received

So firstly, this is an article on Shakespeare's sonnets. Don Paterson, a poet himself, explores a personal response to Shakespeare's poetry, and gives an overview of what we might infer about Shakespeare's life from the sonnets. While there is much we can't know about Shakespeare the man, and there are flaws in Paterson's argument, it's an interesting way of looking at the poems - with lots of speculation on Shakespeare's sexuality! If you want to read the sonnets mentioned in the article, they are available here. Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?) is probably the most famous.

For a weird look at the true face of Shakespeare, check out this reconstruction from his death mask.

To find out about Shakespeare's hip hop credentials, take the Shakespeare or Hip Hop? quiz - unfortunately the related competition is over, but submissions to Miss McLean of Shakespeare raps would be gratefully received...

See if there are any surprises in this list of words and phrases supposedly invented by Shakespeare. Are there any you couldn't live without?

Look through these Royal Shakespeare Company photos to see how Shakespeare performance has changed over the last century.

Although this particular version is no longer playing, Lenny Henry's version of Othello is explored in this article. Watch the video for a clip of Henry in action.

Enter the murky and uncertain art of establishing which plays Shakespeare actually wrote in this article about his 'lost play'. Or start on the endless authorship debate with this musically dubious video.

Thanks for reading - if you find anything else that should be here, please let me know!