LibGuides: Othello: Themes/Symbols and Motifs

Course Hero

The Theme Wheel visualizes all of Othello's themes and plot points on one page.

How does the Theme Wheel work?

Each wedge of the blue ring represents a scene.
Each row of colored boxes extending from a wedge represents a part of the scene. The closer to the blue ring, the closer to the beginning of the scene.
The colors in each row indicate which themes are “active” in that part of the scene.

The Theme Wheel is interactive.

Themes: Hover over or tap any of the themes in the Themes and Colors Key to show only that theme. Click a theme in the Themes Key to lock it.
Summary: Hover over or tap any row of colored boxes to read the summary associated with that row. Click the row to lock the summary.

Professor Bradley Greenburg of Northeastern Illinois University explains the themes in William Shakespeare's play Othello.

Professor Bradley Greenburg of Northeastern Illinois University explains the motifs in William Shakespeare's play Othello.

Professor Bradley Greenburg of Northeastern Illinois University explains the symbols in William Shakespeare's play Othello.

Below are some key ideas from Othello. These are great starting points for you to consider your arguments, thesis and topic sentences: