Literature Class

Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’: Gender, Gatekeeping, Psychopathy 

Questors Academy Literature Course Autumn 2025 


Come and read, enjoy, discuss and share your views of Shakespeare’s tragedy of love, loss, and sacrificial violence. 

Celebrated for Shakespeare’s creation of a psychopathic antagonist, Iago, we shall be examine how the play considers masculine anxieties in marital relationships. We’ll explore how Renaissance attitudes to racial identity, gender norms, age and class differences are exploited by Iago in his destruction of Othello and Desdemona’s marriage. 

We’ll also consider specific perceptions of slander, shame, gatekeeping, and Venetian stereotypes in our discussions. 

We’ll explore the play with reference to historical contexts, domestic tragedies, and Renaissance language.


Enrolment Details 

Courses are open to all. New participants are welcome. 
Classes run on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00 in The Shaw Room.

Course fees are £125 (inclusive of photocopying costs). 

Term will start on September 23rd and 24th. We will break for half-term week on October 28th and 29th, resume on November the 4th and 5th and end on December the 2nd and 3rd. 

Contextual resources will be provided as photocopies.

Text Editions


Please purchase:
William Shakespeare, Othello, ed. Norman Sanders, 3rd Edition, New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1107569713





For further information and enquiries please send an email to the address below:
alexander@thatliteratureguy.com

To book the course transfer £125 to:

Alexander Fairburn-Dixon
Monzo Business Account
Sort Code: 04-00-04
Account Number: 43715503

Feel free to contact me if you wish to make alternative arrangements for payment.

If you are interested in our Summer Study Days, please click here to find out more.

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