How to get an A* in Literature GCSE?

This got me an A* for the English Literature Coursework GCSE. My set text was Othello and I enjoyed it but I didn't particularly love writing this essay so I will make it easy for everyone else to do well.

 Compare the ways in which two different writers present a villainous character

In Othello, it is clear that the central villainous character is Iago. The essence of Iago’s villainy lies in his deceptive and duplicitous nature: 'I am not what I am' (Act1 Scene1 line 64). Moreover, Iago is presented as willing to destroy people's lives for vindictive purposes. For instance he would like to end Othello's relationship with Desdemona by telling Brabantio of their sexual behaviour, describing it in the most crude and graphic terms: 'an old black ram is tupping your white ewe' (Act 1 Scene1 lines 87-88) and 'your daughter and the Moor are making the beast with two backs' (Act1 Scene1 lines 114-115). Such imagery makes the couple's relationship seem grotesque and monstrous, painting Othello as a predatory beast and Desdemona as foolish and passive, and characterising their love as driven by bestial, brutish desires, rather than as true and honourable love. He does this because, according to him, Othello has denied him the promotion to Lieutenant that he wanted and, he believes, cuckolded him: therefore, his revenge is to expose Othello’s elopement with Desdemona, using language which is crude and repulsive. Members of Shakespeare’s audience would have found his language disgusting and most likely would have sympathised with Brabantio. While they recognised that Iago’s actions are driven by revenge and malice, they might nevertheless have felt that he is also justified in preventing such an ‘unnatural’ marriage, especially given that his language presents it as motivated by lust rather than love. Therefore, he is entitled to warn Brabantio (and justified in doing so) about his rebellious and headstrong daughter’s folly. This feeling is exacerbated by the fact that the Elizabethan audience would have felt that Othello needed to ask permission from Brabantio to even approach his daughter. So, arguably, the first time the audience sees Iago, his actions are not purely and simply villainous.

The simple fact, however, that Iago is prepared to compromise Othello's and Desdemona's relationship for no personal gain other than pure revenge would make Iago the villainous character under most literary conventions. The audience knows his motives for committing such acts are stimulated by retribution. For example, when he was angry about not being chosen as Lieutenant: ‘I am worth no worse a place’. Moreover, later on he broods in a soliloquy that 'nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him (Othello), wife for wife' (Act 2 Scene1 lines 286-287). While Iago’s deceitful and treacherous nature results in him lying to other characters, in his soliloquies, the audience hears what they believe to be his true thoughts, as the convention is that in soliloquies, characters speak the truth or what they believe to be the truth. There seems to be no evidence that Othello and Emilia have slept together, other than rumour (‘tis thought abroad’), and we never learn where this rumour comes from. Nevertheless, the soliloquy shows us that it feels true to Iago, and reveals that his actions are those of a soul tormented by jealousy and suspicion - as his wife Emilia later painfully reflects, 'jealous souls' are 'jealous for they are jealous' (Act 3 Scene4 lines152-55). Iago suffers from the disease that he will inflict upon Othello.

This early scene also shows us how skilfully Iago covers his tracks: while setting up what happens, for instance, when telling Brabantio about Othello’s crimes he keeps himself out of the spotlight, and ensures that he himself remains free of blame. Brabantio has no clue who it is waking him up in the middle of the night and asks several times 'What profane wretch art thou?' and Iago replies giving nothing away 'I am one' (Act1 Scene1 lines 113-114). While he doesn't reveal his identity ('one'), the fact that he speaks in prose, rather than the verse which Rodrigo goes on to use, is an indication that he's not someone of Rodrigo's social background and status. Presumably this is also why he's enlisted Rodrigo to help him out. Another example of how Iago changes sides deceitfully is when he has devised a plan with Rodrigo to wreck Othello’s happiness in Act one. We see how adeptly Iago changes sides when he tells Othello, in the very next scene, what has happened neatly avoiding reference to his own role in stirring up the trouble in the first place. He presents himself as the outraged defender of his general’s honour (‘I had thought to have yerked him under the ribs’). Furthermore when a fight seems to be about to break out, Iago says 'Rodrigo...I am for you' (Act1 Scene2 line 58) meaning I am your opponent in the ensuing street fight presumably to cover his own tracks again. This is definitely deceit and the quality of a villain.

Shakespeare also presents him as a coward as 'Iago darts out, wounds Cassio in the leg from behind, and runs away' (Act5 Scene1). Then Iago's deceitfulness or duplicity comes to the fore as Iago, after stabbing Cassio, pretends to be the loyal friend: 'O me, lieutenant! What villains have done this?' (Act5 Scene1 line 56) and then goes and 'stabs Rodrigo' who was the faithful servant and wallet. The latter event is definitely a sign of utter evil. Therefore, Iago's vilest trait as a villain is that he is capable of killing shown by dispatching Rodrigo and reinforced by the fact that he is also a backstabbing coward. Just as Iago's relationship with Rodrigo helps to establish his villainous character at the beginning of the play, Shakespeare also uses it to underline his treacherous qualities at the play's conclusion - only this time Iago's actions are far less ambiguous, and more straightforwardly evil.

However, many spectators of Othello the play would say Iago's greatest crime as a villain was to bring about Desdemona' death, by persuading Othello that his wife has betrayed him. Iago convinced Othello cleverly by twisting her positive qualities and using them as proof of her betrayal: ‘she did deceive her father – marrying you’ (Act3 Scene3 line206). He fabricates evidence with the handkerchief and is brilliant at manipulating people to suit the scene he is trying to create. He manipulates Cassio, which in turn convinces Othello of his betrayal as he urges Cassio to speak to Desdemona. As Desdemona talks more about Cassio to Othello the more he suspects: ‘I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you’, ‘Pray you – let Cassio be received again’ and ‘You’ll never meet a more sufficient man’ (Act3 Scene4). These just anger Othello clouding his mind and making him even more susceptible to Iago’s ‘poison’.

Shakespeare presents Iago as a source of evil in the play and is what most people consider to be a villain. Nevertheless, the 'real villain' in a play often is the one who commits the most heinous of crimes and in this play it is Othello who kills Desdemona. The death of Desdemona is at the epicentre of the play and, therefore,  it is the most important event in it. This makes it the greatest crime in the whole play in the eyes of the audience. The play is called Othello yet the protagonist seems to be Iago as he has more soliloquies than Othello, developing a stronger affiliation with the audience and ultimately its sympathy. Othello has fewer aside speeches; therefore, as an audience we may criticise his actions more harshly and so see him as the villainous character more easily. While it is relatively comfortable to seize upon aspects of Iago’s behaviour which clearly align him with villainy, Shakespeare presents us with other characters who are more ambiguous: even Othello himself could be seen as a villain for the death of Desdemona which makes him the barbarous murderer of a pure, innocent and angelic beauty. Shakespeare complicates our notions of good and evil by giving us a straightforwardly villainous character who nonetheless generates our sympathy in spite of his actions, and a noble and good character that commits a terrible crime. The audience doesn't blame Iago entirely for turning Othello as we sympathise with him due to the intimate interactions we as an audience had with Iago in the form of soliloquies. Moreover, we also feel sympathy for Iago as we get a clear sense of suffering as well. He clearly is an easily jealous person making accusations about Emilia with Othello and Cassio with no evidence. He also knows the pain of jealousy itself describing it vividly: ‘It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger’ (Act3 Scene3 lines165-68). He also has a legitimate complaint about not being given the post of lieutenant as Cassio was given it since he knew Desdemona. All of these factors make Iago a more sympathetic character exacerbated by the fact that Othello himself reaches the conclusion that his 'fair warrior' is actually a 'fair devil'. Moreover, Iago doesn't force Othello to do anything directly, it is Othello who reaches his own conclusions. Shakespeare leaves it up to the audience to decide if Othello is a villain or a tragic hero.

The key scene where one can unravel the truth about Othello is when he is about to kill Desdemona (Act5 Scene2), which is where one can decide whether he is a villain or a wretched, tragic hero. Shakespeare depicts Othello as a person who is psychologically in tatters and is constantly arguing with himself to commit the appalling deed. Shakespeare starts Othello's important speech with repetition of 'It is the cause’, which gives the audience an insight into Othello's mind. This indicates that he is extremely reluctant to kill Desdemona especially when he talks as he uses rhetorical repetition, a persuasive technique designed to convince himself that what he is doing is just and honourable, a sacrifice rather than a murder: 'It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul' (Act5 Scene2 line 1). This theory that Othello is experiencing mental turbulence is also supported by the fact that he lists all her beautiful attributes. He describes her as having 'whiter skin of hers than snow, and smooth as monumental alabaster' (Act5 Scene2 lines 4-5). Smoothness and the colour white are often traits associated with purity and chasteness, which are exactly what Othello says Desdemona lacks. This is ironic as this 'ocular proof' should convince him of her innocence - on the other hand, his own experience as a black man in a white man's world, has taught him that appearances can be deceptive, and 'the pity of it', as he exclaims repeatedly to Iago, is that such an apparently spotless woman should be 'that cunning whore of Venice who married Othello'.

The audience knows Othello still loves her as 'he kisses her' and seems to fall in love once more with her. He is entranced by her fragrance: 'O balmy breath-that dost almost persuade Justice to break her sword' (Act5 Scene2 lines 16-17). As soon as Othello kisses Desdemona Shakespeare highlights his unwillingness to kill her by fracturing his speech with hesitations (indicated by the many dashes), which shows also Othello's lack of control. Othello keeps on finding reasons not to kill her showing his heart still loves Desdemona but his mind seeks justice: 'she must die, else she'll betray more men'. It is this what is driving him to kill her, justice, yet he has rediscovered her beauty not even considered the dubious evidence and still wants to kill her. This short speech is when Othello has the chance to repent and stop since there is nobody there; it is only a sleeping beauty and him. Yet he still is willing to kill her after having time to think alone. This is really what makes him a villain in my eyes as he has opportunities to stop yet he forces himself through thought and it is not an emotional spontaneous reaction.

The way Othello can justify, to himself, killing Desdemona is the evidence he has been presented with by Iago: 'ocular proof', 'handkerchief' and Cassio's supposed confession. However he, just Othello, has not even spoken to Desdemona about his fears nonetheless he has already tried her and convicted her as shown at the end of Act3 Scene3 between Othello and Iago: 'I'll tear her to pieces' (line429). Othello betrays his values and principles by rushing to the rash conclusion that he must kill Desdemona. Othello says 'I'll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; and on the proof...away at once with love or jealousy' (Act3 Scene3 lines 190-192). He does not see before he doubts as Iago convinces him as he is tormented by the thought of Cassio with Desdemona even before he 'saw it (handkerchief) in his hand'. Othello says 'I do not think but Desdemona's honest' (Act3 Scene3 line 225) but then on line 242 he says 'Why did I marry?’. Othello also doesn't throw away love or jealousy. He definitely doesn't get rid of love as he kisses her before he kills her and he is obviously jealous as he orders the death of Cassio. Othello is convinced fairly easily, therefore, it wasn't Iago's 'poison' that turned him completely. Othello has an underlying problem of jealousy or simply despises losing power as when he believes he has been 'cuckolded' by Desdemona he says 'farewell the plumed troops, and the big wars', Othello just rues the loss of his status rather than the loss of his faith in his wife. Evidence of Othello's jealous nature is the contrast in his reactions; when confronted by the problem of the infidelity of Desdemona, he responds in a violent and savage manner: 'Ill tear her to pieces' yet he was utterly calm in Act1 when Brabantio’s men turned up (‘put up your bright swords, or the dew will rust them’) and after the brawl in Act2. He says 'I'll tear her all to pieces...Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell! ...O, blood, blood, blood!' (Act3 Scene3 lines 430-450). This is not the response of a man who is either just or in control. It is the reaction of person overwhelmed by jealousy or lack of control resulting in him being viewed as a villain.

Othello does not repent when he has killed her even when she still protects until the very last moments of her life. She says 'Nobody (killed her) - I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!' (Act5 Scene2 lines 125-26). Othello replies to her last breath with 'She turned to folly, and she was a whore' (line 133). He also damned her soul and thinks she deserved it by saying 'She's a liar and gone to burning hell' (line 130). This is the very thing that Othello said that he would not do as he says 'I would not kill thy soul' (Act5 Scene2 lines 32). Othello has lost control and the Elizabethan audience would have taken very seriously the fact that he damned her soul to hell making his actions even worse. His love for Desdemona should outweigh the reason for killing her: 'justice'. It is this betrayal of his own principles that make Othello fully responsible for the murder of Desdemona.

Othello never even listened to Desdemona's argument; therefore, Othello killed her not Iago. Othello made the choice to kill the only innocent, young and beautiful creature in the play and had several opportunities to alter his decision. Moreover, one of Iago’s techniques was to allow Othello to reach or pursue his own conclusions about Desdemona’s fidelity: ‘Did Michael Cassio…Know of your love… (Why dost thou ask?)… But for a satisfaction of my thought – No further harm’ (Act3 Scene3 lines95-99) yet Othello tries actively to uncover what Iago is hiding falling right into his trap. Othello forced the information out of Iago and did not take no for an answer as with Desdemona. Othello was the one to mention murder ‘I’ll tear her to pieces’ (Act3 Scene3 line429) and therefore should rightly be blamed equally, if not more, than Iago and condemned as a villain. In my opinion Shakespeare presents sufficient evidence that the tragic hero Othello should be seen as the real villain.

There are many parallels and contrasts in how Shakespeare presents a villainous character in ‘Othello’ and Edgar Allen Poe does so in both ‘Hop-Frog’ and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’.

In ‘Hop-Frog’, it is dubious who the real villain is like in Othello. There are potentially two or three candidates for the title of villain: the King, his Ministers or Hop-Frog. The King and his Ministers can be seen as one since they are so similar in appearance, behaviour and the way Poe describes them and that is the way I view the story as ultimately they all die in the same way and, therefore, were seen as the same by Hop-Frog. Poe's narrator underlines the similarity between the King and his cabinet: calls all eight of them ‘large, corpulent, oily men, as well as inimitable jokers’. This makes them sound dirty, greedy and the antithesis of what a good cabinet should be, as they seem to be joking all the time and not actually performing their duties. Moreover, it seems a deeply flawed court as instead of having men of great wisdom, ‘To tell a good story of a joke…was the surest road to his favor’ they employ vacant flatterers. These factors put together culminate in the reader having an impression of the court neglecting its duties and the state and country. Even though we are not told about the rest of the country, as readers we imagine that it not flourishing and, therefore, see its rulers, the people in position of authority as an obstacle to the development of a nation.

The Cabinet’s sense of humour is also highly cruel and idiotic as ‘Over-niceties wearied him (the king)…would have preferred Rabelais’s ‘Gargantua’ to the ‘Zadig’ of Voltaire…practical jokes suited his taste far better than verbal ones’. The ‘Gargantua’ is a farce and the ‘Zadig’ is a much more sophisticated humorous piece. The narrator subtly implies that King seems unable to understand verbal jokes and for that reason his sense of humour reflects his stupidity. This level of ignorance and stubbornness are not the traits one wants in a leader. His humour is extremely cruel as he has ‘a dwarf to laugh at’ and there is further evidence that his moral compass is twisted: ‘His (Hop-Frog's) value was trebled in the eyes of the king by the fact of his being also a dwarf, and a cripple’. Even the jester's nickname, which has become his sole identity in the eyes of the court, embodies a cruel mockery of his disabilities: Hop-Frog was ‘conferred upon him, by general consent of the seven ministers, on account of his inability to walk’; this is both cruel and yet again shows that the cabinet members are deciding awful names for jesters rather than actually doing their jobs as ministers of the Government. Furthermore the King seems to needs Hop-Frog by his side to make himself feel grand in comparison: ‘Hop-Frog could only get along by a sort of interjectional gait – something between a leap and a wriggle – a movement that afforded the King illimitable amusement, and of course consolation’. The King is depicted as a coward as he laughs and aggrandises himself by using a dwarf who ‘could move only with great pain and difficulty’; a trait of a villain.

His sense or lack of humour is epitomised when he orders Hop-Frog to ‘swallow this bumper to the health of your absent friends’. Not only is the King forcing Hop-Frog to drink alcohol that ‘excited the cripple almost to madness’ for his own and the Ministers’ content but he has the nerve to mention Hop-Frog’s friends whom he has not seen for a long time since he was seized from his homeland by the King himself. This is utterly cruel and brutal conduct by the King as not only is he torturing Hop-Frog physically but even mentally: ‘his ‘absent friends’ forced the tears to his eyes’.

These are definitely villainous traits but the King has also got a violent side to him as well to add to his marvellous personality. Poe implicitly calls him barbarous as he contrasts the ‘barbarous region’ where Hop-Frog and Tripetta come from with the country that ‘forcibly carried (them) off from their respective homes…sent as presents to the King, by one of his ever-victorious generals’. This sentence instantly raises a question in the reader’s mind whether the King’s country is in fact more barbarous than Hop-Frog's region and also highlights a flaw in the state as the generals will obviously be ‘ever-victorious’ if they go around the world stealing dwarves and midgets from their respective homes depicting this nation of which the King is the leader as a bully and pillagers.

The most clear part , however, where the reader sees the King’s violence is when ‘he pushed her (Tripetta) violently from him, and threw the contents of the brimming goblet in her face’. He did this because she tried to defend her friend and to exacerbate this, he did this to the person who was ‘universally admires and petted’ because of her ‘grace and exquisite beauty’. The King has no respect for any other person and absolutely despises people questioning him shown by the fact that his ministers are essentially a reflection of himself.

Whereas in Othello the audience sympathises to some extent with all the characters including Iago, in ‘Hop-Frog’ Poe doesn’t really give the reader anything to be able to empathise with the King and his Ministers. Therefore, we cannot feel sorry for their deaths seeing them as responsible and we still see them as the villains even though they are singed carcasses. This doesn’t stop the reader, however, from viewing Hop-Frog, in terms of his character and behaviour, as villainous: he has, after all, brutally murdered eight men. We should explore the idea that Poe also presents Hop-Frog as a villain and the only place where this idea comes to the fore is when he burns the cabinet to death. Poe near the end of ‘Hop-Frog’ no longer describes him as the ‘poor cripple’ or ‘little’, both of which make him sound vulnerable, now he is portrayed as  absolutely crazy having lost all control with ‘fang-like teeth…ground them and gnashed them as he foamed at the mouth, and glared, with an expression of maniacal rage’. This makes Hop-Frog sound like a bloodthirsty lunatic committing villainous atrocities. Nonetheless, Poe seems to remove the blame from Hop-Frog and make the cabinet even more villainous, even though dead. Hop-Frog signs off with ‘this is my last jest’, which suggests that his murderous or vicious traits originated from his vile master. This is a clear difference with the ending to Othello as Iago finishes by saying ‘From this time forth I never will speak word’. The fact that the slaughtered cabinet is described as ‘eight corpses swung in their chains, a fetid, blackened, hideous, and indistinguishable mass’ shows that Poe sees them as all the same as no differentiation is made between them. Furthermore, the description on its own depicts them as disgusting lumps of meat showing no pity whatsoever and may be guiding the reader into believing that they were the real villains of the story and not Hop-Frog. In addition, Hop-Frog committed the murders to be free and escape with a dearest and loved friend yet the cabinet’s actions were purely motivated by personal satisfaction at the expense of the livelihoods of many others.

Poe wrote this story at the time where slavery was about to be abolished and there is a school of thought that this story is almost a parable to the contempory issues of the time. The King and his Ministers are the white masters and Hop-Frog symbolises the black slave as he has been forcibly removed from his homeland which was seen as backward and savage by his masters. Poe may be suggesting that treating people inhumanely and brutally effectively dehumanises and destroys both those who inflict such treatment and those upon whom it is inflicted. 'Hop-Frog' is, therefore, a story intrinsically linked with racism and Othello is also a play that discusses similar issues. Othello, a Moor who has assimilated himself to Christian, Western European 'civilization', ultimately seems to retain a savage, barbaric quality attributed to his roots and heritage as he kills Desdemona: 'arise black vengeance'. In 'Hop-Frog', however, Hop-Frog’s villainous qualities arise as a result of his masters and not his history or culture. Hop-Frog is not innately monstrous, but has been made so by the cruelty with which he has been treated.

Unlike in Othello and ‘Hop-Frog’, in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' it is much clearer who its villain is: it is, of course, the unnamed narrator. This is because the reader is only presented with one crime, the murder of the old man, and the motives given are ridiculous as the idea that the ‘vulture eye’ is evil and persecuting him is totally absurd. The man is an obsessive murderer as ‘every night…I moved it (head) slowly…It took me an hour to place my own head’. The narrator shares some of the qualities we have seen in both Iago and Hop-Frog - he is deceitful, manipulative, calculated in his plans and can be cold-bloodedly effective in carrying them out. An example of his deceit is when he says ‘I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him’. There are more comparisons between Iago and the narrator as they both seem to be very proud of their malicious work and have the urge to almost boast about it. Iago achieves this through the medium of soliloquies engaging in intimate conversations with the audience: 'who is it that says I play the villain?'. Iago delights in his ability to confuse and abuse those around him, demonstrating his superior wit and intellect - whereas the unnamed narrator's objective is to convince the reader that he is completely sane. Poe demonstrates the madman’s desire to show his capabilities off by repeating key words to emphasise the action. This is abundantly clear in the story, for example ‘I moved it slowly – very, very slowly’, ‘I undid the lantern cautiously – oh, so cautiously – cautiously’ and ‘I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily’. This love of boasting about awful deeds is disturbing and villainous but even worse are the motives we are given for killing the old man. He says ‘Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man…I think it was his eye!’ which seems to imply that he just remembered or thought of the reason why he killed him showing lack of compassion.  The best example of his lack of compassion is when he says ‘I knew it was the groan of mortal terror…I knew the sound well’ yet he still remains there and proceeds to kill the old man. He then says ‘I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs’, which are, said with no emotional attachment whatsoever showing his deeply perturbed mind. This is the personality of a merciless villain.

However, Poe doesn’t actually present the narrator as a ruthless murderer. Poe cleverly and subtly makes us see another side of the narrator. The narrator says that he ‘knew the sound (mortal terror) well’, which implies that he has been in this situation himself. Moreover, he may not have had full control over his actions due to the ‘disease’ that ‘had sharpened my senses…I heard many things in hell’. This can mean either that he is mentally disturbed  hearing voices or things that are not real, or in his deep sub-conscious he believes what he is doing is wrong. The latter may be a good theory that also works at the end as the narrator exhibits some form of guilt. At the end he becomes extremely nervous and hears a sound that gets ‘louder! Louder! Louder! Louder! ... it is the beating of his hideous heart’. He gives himself away because his mind seems to be distressed which could be interpreted as a sign of guilt. This makes the reader more sympathetic towards the character as he shows human qualities, in particular remorse, which villains do not usually display.

The narrator is also deeply deluded which again may gain the sympathy of the reader. Unlike Iago, his actions are not precise and brilliant in fact the narrator commits many errors: ‘I slipped upon the tin fastening’, ‘I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me’ and then he kills the old man 'With a loud yell' which resulted in the neighbours calling the police. The narrator is still adamant that he is brilliant as he repeats words as if showing off his ‘skills’ but the reader realises that he is not the excellent murderer he believes he is. This makes him seem rather pathetic and therefore we pity him once again. Poe presents a villain who is mentally disturbed and distressed who cannot control his actions at all ultimately feeling mental pain and anguish over what he has done.

In ‘Hop-Frog’ the concepts surrounding the villains are simpler. However in all of these stories there is debate about the villains, their motives and personalities; therefore, in this respect they are all similar. Poe and Shakespeare even though writing in different times address issues surrounding prejudice and even symbolic racism. Poe makes the reader sympathise with someone who is physically disabled in the form of Hop-Frog and attempts to do the same with someone who has major mental health problems. However, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' shows that it is harder to sympathise with a person who seems normal on the outside yet commits awful deeds even though it is obvious that he is definitely mentally ill or unstable.

Overall the presentations of the villains in these stories are quite different to one another: Othello is presented as a tragic hero, the King and his Ministers are shown as governors that neglect their duties and inflict cruel pain on those who they believe are below them and the villain in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is depicted as a madman whom we have sympathy towards due to his mental ‘disease’.