York Notes on Shakespeare's "Othello" (York Notes Advanced)

York Notes provide the best available study guide - sophisticated commentary and analysis, yet accessible and readily comprehensible. However, don't assume it's going to give you pre-packaged answers you can reproduce under exam conditions and, especially, assume that reading the notes will obviate the need to study the play in detail. Read the play thoroughly, read it often, and try to watch a live or recorded production of 'Othello'.

A good study guide stimulates your understanding and makes the play easier to comprehend. It's worth collaborating with your fellow students - buy two or three different sets of study notes between you, share them around, and use them to get a broader perspective (have a look at, say Letts, and Spark Notes). Use the notes dynamically, don't just passively try to memorise them.


York Notes on Shakespeare's "Othello"   June 4, 2005
N. Wilson (Bristol, United Kingdom)
11 out of 14 found this review helpful

A Level English Literiture isn't quite the walkover expected, and although it was plain sailing through the modern texts such as "The Handmaids Tale" and "The Worlds Wife", I came to abrupt block when I was given any texts featuring words such as "thee", "thy" "thence" and "how now"... otherwise known as pre-20th Century texts.
And so when Shakespeare landed on my desk last September, I cannot be blamed for breaking out into a cold sweat and feeling a big ball of dread in my gut and we opened up the play to Act 1, Scene 1.
But there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel. York Notes. I don't rate revision guides much, but York Notes saved me from failer for this module. It's clear and conscice, which is an immediate improvement on my Lit Teacher, and it is also organised into clear sections so you know what you are learning. The scene synopsis' were essential for me in learning to understand the play, and the analysis of LSF in later chapters was the perfect accompanyment to successful revsion.
What I also found a blessing was the guide highlighted key quotes, which made my revision ten-times simpler, and it also pre-analysed my quotes for me, so I didn't have to do the gruling task myself, all I had to do is memorize them!
And the Notes helped, I failed my mocks for this exam, and then after some good hard work on revision, I walked away from my exam with a happy A!
YORK NOTES ARE ESSENTIAL READING FOR LITERITURE STUDENTS!
10/10 - and york notes are avalible to accompany most books at GCSE and As/A2 Level, so have a bit of a search for other titles, they are not always simple to find on here, so try going to Waterstones where they sit together on the shelf!


Doing A level Othello?   September 24, 2003
J Hughes (United Kingdom)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

Put simply, Othello is a hard play to study. The use of language can be quite daunting. However York Notes Advanced have lifted some weight off the scales! This book is simply excellent; despite what anyone else says! It contains summaries of each Scene in an imformative and interesting way. This book also looks at themes, charcater analysis and key text analyis! With this book and close studying of the Othello play, you should pass the exam, infact if you closely study the play and read the York Notes - I can't see a way that you'll fail. Go on, get this now - You won't regret it.