View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How is Brabantio related to Desdemona?

2. Where does Iago tell the search party for Desdemona to meet him after they hear news of her elopement?

3. Who does Cassio hear is already pleading his case with Othello the morning after his embarrassing street brawl?

4. What is the shortest scene in the book?

5. What do Othello and Desdemona do when they meet each other in Cyprus?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Roderigo suggest that he and Iago do to try and stop the marriage between Othello and Desdemona?

2. Why is Cassio so worried about Othello when he comes ashore in Cyprus?

3. What does the Duke decide to do after he has heard Othello and Brabantio's sides of the case against Othello?

4. How does Brabantio think Othello got Desdemona to marry him?

5. Why is Othello so happy to see Desdemona when he comes ashore in Cyprus?

6. Why is Othello at the inn when he receives the summons from the Duke?

7. What does the message contain that Othello sends out in Act 2, Scene 2?

8. Why does Cassio refuse to drink the wine offered him by Iago when they are both on watch on their first night in Cyprus?

9. Why is Iago so upset with Othello at the beginning of the play?

10. What does Othello do when he sees Cassio's deplorable behavior on his first night in Cyprus?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Desdemona say as she is dying and how does this statement affect Othello? How do these last words change the outcome of the play?

Essay Topic 2

Othello is a black man in power. How does this major feature about him affect the people around him? What are people's first impressions of him? Does his skin color change the way people think about him? Why or why not? Make sure you support your answers with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

The title of this play can be a little misleading to some people. Why is this? What are some other titles that might be more fitting? Why are these titles more suitable to the text than the original? Make sure to support your ideas with examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 561 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample