Othello: Study Guide for GCSE English Literature

Suitable for: Eduqas | WJEC

With key themes of love, loyalty, jealousy and power, Othello: The Moor of Venice, is about as close as Shakespeare gets to classical tragedy and its twisting intrigue will have your students gripped. Unpick every startling scene with this comprehensive resource offering targeted, detailed notes and analysis to lead students through the play.

  1. Walkthrough – Build understanding of the chosen text with insightful and relevant commentary and analysis. All scenes are concisely summarised, then examined in detail.
  2. Whole-text Analysis – Explores: Characterisation • Relationships • Setting • Themes • Ideas and Messages • Language • Form • Structure • Context

Plus!

  • Student-friendly plot summary
  • Key term glossary
  • Further reading
  • Original illustrations

Woven into the analysis throughout you will find:

  • Discussion prompts to encourage debate and individual interpretation
  • Active learning tasks to deepen understanding
  • Essay tips and questions for excellent exam practice
  • Key term definitions to ensure students grasp difficult concepts

Suggested answers are provided for questions and activities.

What do teachers say about this resource? (11309)

A well organised resource that does what it says on the tin: it gives a good overview of the play which would help any pupil make sense of what happens in the play as a whole and also understand some of the overarching framework such as themes, relationships, context and form and structure... I liked the regular questions, discussion prompts and debate bubbles at the end of each scene. These gave regular checking points to help pupils consolidate their understanding of the text... I thought the summary, analysis and information given on the play was well pitched at the correct level to support GCSE pupils... The educational value of this resource lies in the support that it would give to pupils. It would be a perfect companion to studying Othello in the classroom. Pupils could use it to check their understanding of any sections they were unclear of; equally, teachers could use the resource and set certain sections as homework for pupils to read ahead or cover a scene that they were not able to look at in the classroom... A very thorough resource which would be perfect to support GCSE pupils. It would greatly help pupils by giving them a good reference resource they could access to help consolidate their knowledge of the text as they studied it in the classroom.

J Hathaway, Head of English & Peer Reviewer