| Coleridge | “Shakespeare had portrayed [Othello] the very opposite to a jealous man” |
| Rymer | calls Othello a “jealous boob” |
| Kirschbaum | Othello is “understandably human – but he is not greatly noble” |
| A C Bradley | describes how Othello sees his murder of Desdemona as a sacrifice, “he is to save Desdemona from herself” |
| T S Eliot | calls Othello’s final speech a “terrible exposure of human weakness” |
| Wilson Knight | “Othello is dominated by its protagonist” |
| William Empson | “Everybody calls Iago honest once or twice but with Othello it becomes an obsession” |
| Karen Newman | “Othello is of course the play’s hero only within the terms of a white elitist male ethos” |
| Neville Coghill | sees Iago as “powerfully possessed by hatred against a master who (as he thinks) has kept him down” |
| Helen Gardner | descries how Iago displays “the desire to manipulate” |
| Sean McEvoy | describes how “the audience become complicit in Iago’s intention” |
| Marian Cox | puts forward the idea that we feel uncertain about the validity of the love between Othello and Desdemona |
| W H Auden | Suggests Iago is motivated by the desire to know and show what Othello is really like |
| A C Bradley | Suggests there is something lovable about Cassio, we trust him to never pervert the truth for the sake of doctrine or purpose of his own |
| A C Bradley | puts forward the idea that Emilia nowhere shows any sign of having a bad heart |
| Matt Simpson | suggests Emilia dies in the service of the truth |
| Matt Simpson | suggests we have to acknowledge the fact that wives are required to be obedient to understand Emilia’s handing over of the handkerchief |
| Jarvis | puts forward that Desdemona receives a wh0re’s death for all her innocence |
| Matt Simpson | cites the fact that Bianca’s name translates as ‘white’ in Italian |
| Jardine | suggests that all 3 women in the play are wrongfully accused of sexual misdemeanor in the course of the play |
| Matt Simpson | says Iago is exposed as a shallow fool |
| Marian Cox | argues that ‘lucky’ would be a more appropriate epitaph than ‘honest’ for Iago |
| Marian Cox | suggests that Iago make his superiors his puppets |
| Blake | says Iago publishes doubt and calls it knowledge |
| Warren | suggests that Iago revels in his ability to destroy |
| Rymer | puts forward the idea that Desdemona deserved her fate as maidens of quality should not run away with blackamoors |
| Matt Simpson | argues that Othello allows Iago to replace Desdemona in his esteem and affection, and as his confidant and soulmate |
| A C Bradley | suggests that Othello is by far the most romantic among Shakespeare’s heroes |
| Leavis | argues that Othello is completely flawed |
| Ruth Cowhig | suggests that Othello is an alien in a white society and a black villain in a white society |
| Loomba | suggests that women and blacks exist as the ‘other’ |
| A C Bradley | “Desdemona is helplessly passive. She can do nothing whatever. She cannot retaliate even in speech; no, not even in silent feeling” |
| Sam Mendes | “Desdemona made a very specific decision to marry this man… that makes her in some ways extremely strong, an active participant in the drama, rather than an insipid feeble girl.” |
| Abigail Rokison-Woodall | describes Desdemona as “the ideal Renaissance woman, pious, modest, and obedient… the picture that is constructed is an idealised one… and yet, as soon as we see her, she proves herself to be assertive, sexually liberated and witty.” |
| Carol Thomas Neely | “Desdemona’s spirit, clarity, and realism do not desert her entirely in the latter half of the play as many critics and performances imply.” |
| Coleridge | “the motive-hunting of motiveless malignity” |
| Martin Wangh | suggests that it is Iago’s repressed desire for Othello that is the real reason for his actions |
| Leavis | suggests on Othello, “the stuff of which he is made begins… to deteriorate and show himself unfit.” |
| Coleridge | Othello “must not be considered as a negro, but as a high and chivalrous Moorish chief” |
| Carol Thomas Neely | describes Othello and Iago as “implicit in the other” |
| Kenneth Tyan | “‘Not easily jealous’ is the most appalling bit of self-deception. He’s the most easily jealous man that anybody’s ever written about. The minute he suspects, or thinks he has the smallest grounds for suspecting, Desdemona, he wishes to think her guilty, he wishes to” |
| Karen Newman | says Desdemona suffers “the conventional fate designed to desiring women” |
| Simon Wardle | “A sole leader of Cyprus, Othello is a figure like a monarch or tyrant.” |
| Bonnie Greer | calls Othello “a man with a beautiful soul” |
| Bonnie Greer | “some people even that that Othello should be called Iago” |
| Bonnie Greer | “Desdemona is a young, inexperienced girl, but she knows her own heart” |
| Bonnie Greer | says Othello’s jealousy is the “trait of nature that undermines his life” |
| Neil Bowen | “Othello is vital to the state, and in his warrior role he is self-assured and secure” |
| Neil Bowen | “for Othello, if he is unable to govern Desdemona, he is unfit to govern Cyprus.” |
| Peter Bunten | “Venice is therefore a less virtuous place than it may appear, which sets the keynote of the play.” |
| Frank Kermode | Suggests Iago manages to reduce Othello’s language as well as his honour |
Othello Critics
September 30, 2019