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Othello · Act 4
The Willow Song
An escape room on Act 4 of Shakespeare's Othello
A trance, a letter from Venice, a blow in public and a sad song before bed. Seven locks test what you know of Act 4 of Othello.
Students solve seven self-checking locks on the act and earn a word from each. At the last lock they put two of those words together to answer the final clue.
Play the free taster (2 of 7 locks)Members: full room
The taster runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Members share a private class link that opens all seven locks.
What's inside
- 7 self-checking locks: a crossword, scrambled names, a secret message, who's who, make the pairs, odd one out and a final lock
- Characters in this room: Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Emilia, Cassio, Bianca, Roderigo, Lodovico
- Works with any edition
- No logins and nothing to install; progress is saved in the browser
- Takes about one lesson
For teachers
Each room covers one act, and every answer comes from it, so it checks reading as well as recall. The seven locks:
- Crossword — ten names, places and key words from the act, with clues from the scenes.
- Scrambled names — unscramble seven names or words, with a clue for each.
- Secret message — decode a shift-three cipher and answer the riddle it asks.
- Who's who — match eight characters to what they do in this act.
- Make the pairs — complete four pairs (father and daughter, master and servant…) from a set of cards.
- Odd one out — six rows on characters, lines and events: find the one that does not belong.
- The last lock — choose two of the words earned in locks 1–6 to answer the final clue.
Most students take 30 to 45 minutes. They can work alone or in pairs on any device with a browser, or you can project the room and solve it together. Every answer checks itself, and progress is saved in the browser, so a room can be split across two lessons. The rooms work with any edition and suit high school English classes and homeschoolers from about grade 8.
