Þthello Act 1 Study Guide Act 1. Scene 1
1. Why might Shakespeare choose to begin the play in the middle of a conversation between
lago and Roderigo? What effect does it have on you as a reader?
2. What are the two of them discussing?
3. What reasons does lago give for being angry with Othello?
4. What might lago mean when he says "I am not what I am."(line 66)?
5. What other words/phrases does he use in his short speech (lines 42-66) that also relate to
the idea that appearances are deceiving?
6. What are your first impressions of lago and Roderigo?
7. Why do lago and Roderigo go to wake up Brabantio, and how would you describe the way in
which they deliver the news to Brabantio?
8. What evidence of racism do you find in the first scene?

Read the following excerpt from life on the mississippi by mark twain. no girl could withstand his charms. he "cut out" every boy in the village. when his boat blew up at last, it diffused a tranquil contentment among us such as we had not known for months. but when he came home the next week, alive, renowned, and appeared in church all battered up and bandaged, a shining hero, stared at and wondered over by everybody, it seemed to us that the partiality of providence for an undeserving reptile had reached a point where it was open to criticism. how does twain's use of understatement serve his purpose? be sure to use specific details from the text to support your answer.

Match each excerpt to the correct stanza structure. 1. it was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of annabel lee; and this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me. (from "annabel lee" by edgar allan poe) 2. o thou, new-year, delaying long, delayest the sorrow in my blood, that longs to burst a frozen bud and flood a fresher throat with song. (from "in memoriam" by alfred lord tennyson) 3. nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. her early leaf’s a flower but only so an hour. then leaf subsides to leaf. so eden sank to grief,; so dawn goes down to day. nothing gold can stay. (from "nothing gold can stay" by robert frost) 4. at sestos hero dwelt; hero the fair, whom young apollo courted for her hair, and offered as a dower his burning throne, where she should sit for men to gaze upon. the outside of her garments were of lawn, the lining purple silk, with gilt stars drawn; (from "hero and leander" by christopher marlowe) quatrain couplet octave sestet

Why is macbeth both excited and fearful after hearing the witches prediction about his future