Quick Facts

Medium Of Instructions	Mode Of Learning	Mode Of Delivery
English	Self Study	Video and Text Based

Courses and Certificate Fees

Fees Informations	Certificate Availability	Certificate Providing Authority
USD 149	yes	Harvard University, Cambridge

Analyze Othello’s monologue in Act 1, Scene 3 and use it as a lens through which to view the play as a whole
Assess the way storytelling is associated with witchcraft, lying, and other subversive behavior, setting up the tragedy of Othello and Desdemona’s relationship
Understand the historical contexts for Shakespeare’s representations of Othello
Explore how Shakespeare transformed his sources in creating his character and the play as a whole

Compare and contrast Othello’s storytelling with Iago’s machinations to sabotage Othello and Desdemona’s relationship, considering the thin line the play draws between fiction and lying
Use Othello’s monologue in Act 4 to interpret the handkerchief, one of the play’s most central props/symbols
Evaluate the multiple meanings available in the play’s variant versions and their implications for performance
Discover how two famous African-American actors, among the first black actors to play Othello, interpreted the play and leveraged it for their own activism

Delve into the history of operatic adaptations of Othello, beginning with the nineteenth-century Italian composers Verdi and Rossini
Discover Otello in the Seraglio, which transposes the play to the Ottoman court, revising the “orientalism” of both the play and its operas
Explore music as a means for telling Othello’s “story,” including representing gender, nationality, and race
Consider how adaptations bring new meaning to old texts through setting, language, medium, and other artistic choices

Weigh divergent feminist responses to Othello by Toni Morrison, Djanet Sears, Paula Vogel, and Ann-Marie MacDonald
Consider how genre becomes a tool for rewriting Othello from a female perspective
Encounter American Moor, a new play that dramatizes a black actor’s experience auditioning to play Othello
Evaluate why Othello provides continuing material for engaging issues surrounding race, gender, class, colonialism, and other topics