A Level English Literature Students: Othello Lecture

On Monday 25th November, 2024, the Year 13 English class was given the opportunity to listen to a fascinating lecture given by Chloé Houston on how stage props are used in Othello, alongside the idea of Othello as ‘other’ within his own narrative. Houston explored ideas concerning Othello’s Traveller’s Tales and how he is both an insider and an outsider as “The Moor of Venice”. Yet the focus of Houston’s lecture was in regard to the handkerchief and the connotations and significance driven by it. 

Houston began discussing the given information about the handkerchief, what Shakespeare wants the audience to know, for example, we know that Othello says it is a gift from his mother and we also know that the strawberry embroidery is emblematic of blood. However, Houston then started to expand on its significance, initially looking into their history as a material item. She discussed how the handkerchief was an important part of material culture during the Renaissance period and how it was a very personal item, seldom shared with others. Handkerchiefs were also symbolic of beauty, cleanliness, good breeding and fine taste alongside being representative of a woman’s domestic labour. After looking into the history of the handkerchief, Houston begins to explore its movement on stage and how the story of the handkerchief associates Othello with another world, a romantic, fanciful world, furthering his “otherness”. Houston concluded her talk by opening the floor to discussion and allowed the students to ask her further questions in detail regarding the subject matter of her lecture and the play as a whole.

Ms Bhudia, Director of English, said: “It was an incredible opportunity to hear from a specialist and study stage props in such detail as Houston opened our minds to concepts and connotations we had never even considered before.”

The entire A Level English Literature class is extremely grateful for Houston’s lecture and the time she gave us. Thank you to Ms Houston for sharing her knowledge with us all.