.Othello Critics quotes

seghal “jealousy is exhausting it’s a hungry emotion and must be satisfied”
vanitta desdemona is killed by all those who see her humiliated + beaten in public & fail to intervene
honigmann both are outsiders Othello as a moor, iago as a malcontent with a grudge against privilege. both stand apart from their fellow men both want to be accepted.
seghal jealousy trains us to look with intensity not accuracy
f. billingley Othello was neither right nor reasonable & desdemona ended up dead.
m. cox nearly every scene in the play refers to/depends on characters seeing & knowing
Frank Kermode (iagos language) at it’s core it is filth
Karen Newman iago is a cultural hyperbole
h. fisher romantic love is an obsession, you loose your sense of self, distort reality.
a.c. Bradley in regard to the essential character, othellos race isn’t important
Bradley purely noble, strong, generous & tragic hero merely a victim.
m. cox death was preferred to dishonor
c.phillips she is a prize, a spoil of war.
m. cox desdemona dies claiming black is white
honigmann Just about every character misunderstands desdem
m.cox the 2 main events of the play are murder & marriage
Adamson iago is more a catalyst that precipitates destruction than a devil that causes it
honigmann iago is excellent in short term tactics not long term strategy
honigmann Christianity can be worn as a mask consciously by iago & unconsciously by Othello
Lynda boose handkerchief is used to represent marriage & justice
Lynda boose strawberries have a symbolic connection with the concept of virginity
Lynda boose the handkerchief represents mans ancient consciousness
greenblatt Othello is both a monster & hero
Coleridge the perfection of women is to be characterless everyone wishes a desdemona for a wife
honigmann iago is a liar, betrayer, & mental torturer
Holland iago is the stage manager
homigmann othellos emotional range is huge, iagos is limited
Bradley desdemona is helplessly passive
Holland iago teaches/persuades audience to adopt his point of view
lll black is the badge of hell
Hunter the basic & ancient sense that black is the colour of sin & death
elliot what Othello seems to be doing in his final speech is cheering himself up
mehl iago is a satanic tempter
bayley Emilia is the mouthpiece of repressed feminity
Leavis Othello is too stupid to be regarded as a tragic hero
Wilson Knight Othello loves emotion for emotions sake, luxuriates in it
John Quincy Adams the great moral lesson of othello is that black & white blood cannot be intermingled in marriage without a gross outrage upon the law of nature
RYMER (Desdemona) its a caution to maidens
rymer (iago) iago is too evil to be believed
rymer tragical part…bloody farce
Bradley Othello- most romantic figure amongst Shakespeare’s heroes “greatest poet of them all”
Dusinberre (FEMINIST)(shakespeare) didn’t divide human nature into masculine & feminine
Habib (NOT RACIST) Shakespeare knew people of colour. He walked thru their neighbourhood everyday
Bate and rasmussen desdemona inspires our pity, not because she’s pitful but bc she stands up to her father
O’Toole so close are iago & Othello, that they start to melt together
O’Toole Iago’s success lies in Othello’s readiness to respond/ “takes Shame & doubt that already exists”
Loomba “venice a place of female deviance”
neely (emilia) placing her loyalty to her husband above her affection for desdem
Newman desdemona suffers the traditional fate of the desiring women although othellos race makes the audience have some sympathy
lynda boose handkerchief represents marriage & justice
coleridge iago- an example of motiveless malignity
Jardine desdemona : “too knowing, too independent” (stands up to dad, punished by hierarchy)
french argues “desdemona accepts her cultures dictum that she must be obedient to males”
callaghan handkerchief= a miniature of the nuptial linens
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September 3, 2019