| crysoliteG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | “Nay, had she been true, / If Heaven would make me such another world / Of one entire and perfect chrysolite, / I’d not have sold her for it.” (V ii [143])’Notice the single word ‘chrysolite’ with its outstanding and remote beauty: this is typical of ‘Othello’. |
| natural imagesG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | ‘natural images are given a human value. They are insignificant, visually: their value is only that which they bring to the human passion which cries out to them.’ |
| chiselled phraseG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | ‘…the dominant quality in this play is the exquisitely moulded language, the noble cadence and chiselled phrase, of Othello’s poetry.’ |
| domesticG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | ‘The ‘Othello’ world is eminently domestic, and Desdemona expressly feminine. We hear of her needlework …, her fan…, gloves, mask…’ |
| reasonG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | ‘Here is [Iago’s] reason for hating Othello’s and Desdemona’s love: he hates their beauty, to him a meaningless, stupid thing. That is Iago. Cynicism is his philosophy, his very life, his ‘motive’ in working Othello’s ruin.’ |
| uglinessG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | [about Act 4] ‘the accumulative effect of ugliness, hellishness, idiocy, negation.’ |
| formless, colourless, essenceG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | [about Act 4] ‘It is a formless, colourless, essence, insidiously undermining a world of concrete, visual, richly-toned forms. That is the Iago-spirit embattled against the domesticity, the romance, the idealised humanity of the ‘Othello’ world.’ |
| contrast of Othello’s stylesG Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930) | ‘Here, too, we find the reason for the extreme contrast of Othello’s styles: one exotically beautiful, the other blatantly absurd, ugly. There is often no dignity in Othello’s rage.’ |
Critics: Othello – G Wilson Knight, ‘The Othello Music’ (1930)
August 6, 2019