Shakespeare’s Othello stands among his best-known and most often performed tragedies. The play charts the course of Othello, a Venetian general of Moorish background, and Desdemona, his new bride. As Iago, Othello’s ensign, vengefully schemes to undo the general, Othello’s world becomes shrouded in a thickening web of lies and rumors. Shakespeare tells this private drama in his lightly allusive style.

Skills: analysis, close reading, drawing inferences from a text, interpreting implications of allusions

About This Document

The Owl Eyes Allusions activity gives students an opportunity to practice identifying and analyzing allusions. Allusions broaden the scope of a text and imbue passages of the text with deeper meaning by subtly drawing on literature, history, science, geography, philosophy, mythology, or other cultural sources. The main components of this activity include the following:

• A contextualized paragraph of the text
• A handout defining “allusion” with examples from classic works
• A list of tips for spotting allusions
• A step-by-step guide to activity procedure
• An example answer

In completing this activity, students will be able to identify, analyze, and interpret allusions, thereby accessing deeper meanings within the text.