Home › Certifications › Othello (Shakespeare)
150 multiple-choice questions and 45 flashcards, written to the AP English Literature blueprint. Every question carries a full rationale.
Study Othello (Shakespeare) in CoStudy →
AP English Literature, Common Core ELA 9-12 reading drama, IB English A: Literature
CoStudy's Othello (Shakespeare) bank holds 195 items. Every multiple-choice question carries a written rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is tempting but wrong.
A sample of 12 multiple-choice questions from the bank, with the full rationale shown.
The 'green-eyed monster' image identifies jealousy with:
Answer: B — A predator that mocks the meat it feeds on — toying with its prey
A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — the image emphasizes that jealousy consumes its host while it pretends to nourish.
The attack on Cassio in Act 5 is botched because:
Answer: D — Roderigo's blade fails and Cassio wounds him; Iago wounds Cassio from hiding and kills Roderigo to silence him
A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — the chaotic street fight removes Iago's chief tool and witness in one stroke.
Lodovico's closing line gives orders for:
Answer: B — The torture of Iago and the seizure of Othello's fortune for Gratiano
A) Reversed. B) Correct — Iago is to be tortured; Gratiano inherits as Brabantio's brother. C/D) Wrong.
Iago's theory of jealousy in 3.3 is that:
Answer: C — Jealousy generates its own evidence and feeds on suspicion rather than fact
A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — the diagnostic precedes and prepares the application to Othello.
The willow song originates with:
Answer: B — A maid named Barbary whose lover went mad, taught to Desdemona's mother's maid
A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — a song inherited through women, sung by a woman about to die.
Iago's primary technique in the temptation scene is to:
Answer: D — Pretend to hesitate, hint, and withdraw, prompting Othello to demand more
A) The opposite. D) Correct — withholding gives the lie its weight. B/C) Not used here.
Cassio's reaction when Desdemona lands safely at Cyprus is:
Answer: B — Effusively courteous: he kisses her hand and praises her
A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Iago notes the gesture and stores it as ammunition. The courtesy itself becomes evidence.
Othello's wounding of Iago after the truth comes out is meant to:
Answer: D — Test whether Iago is a devil whose feet are not cloven
A) He cannot. D) Correct — the gesture is theological: Othello looks down to see if Iago is supernatural. B/C) Reductive.
The play's treatment of manipulation argues that:
Answer: B — Half-truths arranged with silence and inference are more powerful than open lies
A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Iago's craft is the play's classic case for rhetoric as villainy.
Othello's speech as he enters with the light contains the phrase:
Answer: D — 'Put out the light, and then put out the light'
A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — the doubled image equates the lamp and Desdemona's life, knowing only one can be relit.
Emilia learns the truth about the handkerchief when:
Answer: A — Othello finally explains his evidence and she names Iago as the planter
A) Correct — Othello's mention of the handkerchief detonates Emilia's recognition. B/C/D) Wrong.
Iago's speech is densely populated with animal imagery to:
Answer: D — Reduce other characters to beasts, especially Othello as a 'black ram' and Desdemona as prey
A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — the bestial register dehumanizes and isolates targets in advance of action.
6 sample cards from the 45 in the bank.
The opening scene?
Iago + Roderigo wake Brabantio at night to report Desdemona's elopement with Othello. The play opens already inside Iago's scheme. Race is foregrounded in 'old black ram' invective.
Who is Iago?
Othello's ensign (ancient). The play's antagonist + arguably its most extensive role. Drives the plot through deception. Refuses to explain himself at the end.
Who is Emilia?
Iago's wife + Desdemona's attendant. Steals the handkerchief at Iago's request. Discovers the truth at the climax + exposes Iago + dies.
What is Iago's stated motive?
Multiple + shifting: passed over for the lieutenancy (Cassio promoted instead), suspicion Othello slept with Emilia, sheer hatred. Shakespeare deliberately overdetermines.
Date + period?
Written c. 1603-04 during Shakespeare's tragic period. First performed at court Nov 1604. Published 1622 quarto + 1623 First Folio.
Who is Roderigo?
Wealthy Venetian who loves Desdemona. Iago strings him along + uses his money + eventually kills him. Comic + tragic dupe.
These samples are a small slice. The full bank runs flashcards, multiple choice and timed mock exams with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
The Othello (Shakespeare) bank holds 195 items: 150 multiple-choice questions, 45 flashcards. 18 of them are on this page to read free, with no signup.
Yes. Every multiple-choice item carries a written rationale that states the controlling principle behind the correct answer and then addresses each wrong option in turn — why it tempts and precisely where it fails. Knowing why the plausible answer was wrong is worth more than knowing which letter was right.
The samples on this page are free to read in full, rationales included, with no account. The complete 195-item bank, the timed mock exams and per-chapter progress tracking are part of CoStudy on the web and in the iOS app.
Last reviewed 2026-08-22. Banks are written against the certifying body's published exam outline and re-checked when that outline changes — exams get renumbered, retired and reweighted, and a bank written to a superseded outline teaches the wrong proportions. Figures that are re-indexed annually are deliberately not asserted as rules; the questions test the governing principle instead.