Lesson 4.1.1.1

4.1.1.1 Othello (Shakespeare) Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.1.1.1, Othello (Shakespeare): 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA English Literature A (7712), Unit 1: Love through the ages, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which character is the Moorish general whose marriage to Desdemona drives the action of Othello?

    • Roderigo, the rejected suitor of Desdemona
    • Cassio, the young lieutenant in Venice
    • Othello, the Moorish general in Venetian service
    • Iago, the ensign who plots the downfall

  2. What rank does Iago hold in Othello's army, a rank he resents Cassio being given instead?

    • Ensign, a junior officer in the army
    • Governor of Cyprus, appointed by the Duke
    • Lieutenant, the second-in-command
    • Senator, a member of the Venetian council

  3. Which object does Iago use as apparent proof of Desdemona's infidelity?

    • A portrait of Desdemona painted by Bianca
    • A ring that Cassio took from Bianca
    • A letter sent to Cassio from Venice
    • A handkerchief Othello gave Desdemona as a token

  4. The main plot of Othello is derived from which earlier prose source?

    • Ovid's Metamorphoses, a Latin poem of myths
    • Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi, a collection of tales
    • Holinshed's Chronicles, a history of England
    • Boccaccio's Decameron, a collection of stories

  5. What charge does Brabantio bring against Othello when he discovers the marriage?

    • Cheating his soldiers out of their pay
    • Murdering a senator in a Venetian street
    • Using witchcraft or drugs to win Desdemona
    • Treason against the Venetian state and Senate

  6. Who is the gullible gentleman whom Iago repeatedly exploits for money and as a tool in his plot?

    • Lodovico, an envoy from Venice
    • Roderigo, a rejected suitor of Desdemona
    • Gratiano, Brabantio's kinsman from Venice
    • Montano, the governor of Cyprus

  7. Who is Iago's wife and Desdemona's attendant, who later reveals the truth about the handkerchief?

    • Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's attendant
    • Hermione, the queen in a different play
    • Lodovico, the Venetian envoy who arrives
    • Bianca, Cassio's lover in Cyprus

  8. Which phrase does Othello repeat as he prepares to kill Desdemona in her bed?

    • Speak of me as I am and nothing more
    • Put out the light, and then put out the light
    • Chaos is come again upon the island
    • Farewell the tranquil mind and its peace

  9. How does Othello die at the end of the play?

    • He is strangled by Emilia in the bedchamber
    • He is poisoned by Iago in the final scene
    • He is executed by Lodovico on the orders of the Duke
    • He stabs himself after his final speech to Venice

  10. In Act 1, Iago uses animal imagery of an old black ram tupping a white ewe. What is the main effect of this language?

    • It reveals that Desdemona secretly loves Cassio
    • It proves that Iago is serving Roderigo's interests
    • It presents the match as sexual and unnatural, to outrage Brabantio
    • It shows Othello's military skill in the Turkish wars

  11. Which dramatic technique explains why the audience feels tension as Othello trusts Iago?

    • Dramatic irony, since the audience knows Iago's true intent
    • Pathetic fallacy, where nature reflects emotion
    • Choric commentary, where a chorus comments on events
    • Anticlimax, where a dramatic peak is deflated

  12. Iago's soliloquies in Acts 1 and 2 are important mainly because they:

    • reveal his motives and plans directly to the audience
    • show that Othello secretly loves Cassio
    • make Desdemona confess her guilt to her father
    • explain the laws that govern the Venetian state

  13. Cassio loses his lieutenancy after which event?

    • Insulting the Duke of Venice at a public banquet
    • Fighting a formal duel with Iago in the harbour
    • A drunken brawl provoked by Roderigo in Cyprus
    • Losing a large sum of money gambling at dice

  14. Which Act and scene contain Othello's soliloquy beginning 'Farewell the tranquil mind'?

    • Act 3 scene 3, after Iago's suggestions
    • Act 5 scene 2, in Desdemona's bedchamber
    • Act 2 scene 1, on the harbour of Cyprus
    • Act 1 scene 3, in the Venetian Senate

  15. Othello's vulnerability to Iago is best explained by which factor?

    • His unwillingness ever to fight in any battle
    • His great wealth, which makes him careless with money
    • His insecurity as an outsider in Venetian society
    • His hatred of all soldiers who serve under him

  16. Which claim about race in Othello is best supported by the text?

    • Othello is a noble soldier whose trust is destroyed by prejudice and manipulation
    • Othello is presented as a stereotypical villain from the first scene
    • Race has no effect on how the other characters treat Othello
    • Iago's hatred is based entirely on Othello's race and colour

  17. Where does Othello murder Desdemona?

    • In their bedchamber on Cyprus
    • In the Senate chamber in Venice
    • In Brabantio's house in Venice
    • On the battlefield near Rhodes

  18. Who sings the willow song in Act 4 scene 3?

    • Emilia, while she sews in the household
    • Bianca, at a gathering of soldiers
    • Desdemona, as she prepares for bed
    • Cassio, in a drunken reverie in the street

  19. Iago's motivation is left partly unexplained in the play. What is the main effect of this ambiguity?

    • It makes Iago's evil seem motiveless and disturbing to the audience
    • It makes Othello the only villain in the whole play
    • It shows Iago is secretly a Venetian senator in disguise
    • It removes all tension from the final act of the play

  20. Which element of the plot shows Iago manipulating appearances rather than facts?

    • Lodovico arrives from Venice carrying letters for the Moor
    • Emilia reports the death of Roderigo to the Senate
    • Othello meets Desdemona at her father's house in Venice
    • Othello overhears a staged talk that seems to show Cassio confiding about Desdemona

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