The Folger Guide to Teaching Othello

The authoritative guide to teaching Shakespeare’s Othello, The Folger Guide to Teaching Othello is an invaluable resource for teachers, students, and Shakespeare fans alike.

In Othello, William Shakespeare creates powerful drama from a marriage between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona that begins with elopement and mutual devotion and ends with jealous rage and death. Shakespeare builds many differences into his hero and heroine, including race, age, and cultural background. Yet the couple’s strong love would potentially easily overcome these differences were it not for Iago, who sets out to destroy Othello. Iago’s false insinuations about Desdemona’s infidelity draw Othello into his schemes, and Desdemona is subjected to Othello’s horrifying verbal and physical assaults.

The Folger Guide to Teaching Othello includes:
-An explanation of the Folger methodology for teaching Shakespeare
-Scholarly essays from experts in the field
-A five-week breakdown of digestible lesson plans
-Resource links for a deeper dive into the world of Shakespeare

This guide is an essential part of any teacher’s toolkit.

Dr. Peggy O’Brien is a classroom teacher who founded the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Education Department in 1981. She set the Library’s mission for K–12 students and teachers then and began to put it in motion; among a range of other programs, she founded and directed the Library’s intensive Teaching Shakespeare Institute, was instigator and general editor of the popular Shakespeare Set Free series and expanded the Library’s education work across the country. In 1994, she took a short break from the Folger—twenty years—but returned to further expand the education work and to engage in the Folger’s transformation under the leadership of Library Director Michael Witmore. She is the instigator and general editor of The Folger Guides to Teaching Shakespeare series.

ISBN: 9781982105648
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: March 11, 2025