| Othello (1) | BRADLEY: “the consciousness of his position never leaves him”BRADLEY: “by far the most romantic [of Shakespeare’s heroes]”BRADLEY: “so noble” he inspires “mingled love and pity”BRADLEY: Othello is not a “jealous man”COWHIG: “an alien in a white society”COLERIDGE: Othello was not “jealous” – it was “forced upon him by Iago”FREDERICKSON: “Othello does not in fact conform to any racial stereotype”GREENBLATT: “Othello is both a monster and a hero”LOOMBA: “[Othello becomes] a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynist ones”LOOMBA: “[black people were seen as] godless, hideous and bestial” |
| Othello (2) | O’TOOLE: “[Othello appears to be] not very bright”SPLITTER: “[Iago appears as] Othello’s alter ego, his evil demon”WARNEN: [Othello is] “no fool”WILSON KNIGHT: “[Othello’s voice has] a rich music of its own”VANITA: “Othello’s blackness does not diminish his power over his wife” |
| Iago (1) | ANKIT: “Iago gives us too many motivations in his soliloquies…which make none convincing” – e.g JEALOUSY @ CASSIO, OTHELLO, LOVE OF DES, EMILIA ETC.ANKIT: “[by the end of the play the audience has made] no progress [on working out who Iago is]”ANKIT: “[his] creation is utter destruction” – METATHEATRE ANKIT: “[the audience and characters become] caught in his web of deception”AUDEN: “Iago is motivated by the desire to know and show what Othello is really like”AROGUNDADE: [“Iago’s vow to Othello @ the end of III.III] possesses a distinctly romantic tone not too dissimilar to that of a marriage vow”AROGUNDADE: “[Iago regards Emilia with] indifference and contempt…his hard-core misogyny becomes a springboard for assumptions of a latent homosexuality”BASHFORD: “hypnotist and puppeteer…makes it seem like they [the other characters] are acting of their own free will” |
| Iago (2) | COLERIDGE: “motiveless malignancy”COWHIG: “[Iago is] eaten up with sexual jealousy”COX: “lucky” is perhaps a “more appropriate fixed epitaph” than “honest”HOLLAND: “[Iago is like] a stage manager”HONIGMANN: “Emilia’s love (of Desdemona) is Iago’s undoing”JACOBSEN: “Iago is a Machiavellian villain”JOSEPH: “Shakespeare’s most accomplished rhetorician” MCAVOY: “[the audience becomes] complicit with Iago’s intention”SPLITTER: “[Iago appears as] Othello’s alter ego, his evil demon”WOOD: “[Iago’s speech often] bypasses dialogue…lets us know in confidence just how he pLans to manipulate Othello” – LINK TO METATHEATRE |
| Desdemona | ANKIT: “…the audience in Shakespeare`s time may have seen Iago as a safeguard to Desdemona`s sexual purity. Later on, we see that he creates her as nothing more than sexual object”BRADLEY: “helplessly passive”COX: “[Desdemona is] damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t”HOPKINS: “[she] carries a name that seals her fate; with the etymology of ‘wretched fate'”HOLLINDALE: “most disregarded and underrated heroine in Shakespeare”JARVIS: “a wh*re’s death for all her innocence”ROSSITER: “this pathetic, girlish, nearly-blank sheet Desdemona”VANITA: “Othello’s blackness does not diminish his power over his wife”VANITA: “trapped in the predicament of being a woman” |
| Emilia | HONIGMANN: “Emilia’s love (of Desdemona) is Iago’s undoing”SIMPSON: “[the audience has to] understand that wives were required to be obedient [to reason] Emilia’s handing over of the handkerchief”SIMPSON: “[Emilia] dies in the service of the truth” |
| Cassio/Bianca | BRADLEY: “there is something very loveable about Cassio”HOPKINS: points out that Cassio’s name means “hollow” in ItalianNORRIS: “Bianca [alludes to] the problematic status of women [in the contemporary era]”SIMPSON: “Bianca [like Cassio and Othello] is an outsider]SIMPSON: “she underscores the theme of jealousy” |
| Jealousy | BOOSE: “[the handkerchief is] visible proof of Desdemona’s infidelity” |
| Love and sex | COX: “[we are] unsure [of the] validity of Othello and Desdemona’s love”HEILMAN: “rejects the magical powers of love” (In O’s rejection of the handkerchief)HOLLINDALE: “Othello is one of Shakespeare’s tragedies of love”HONIGMANN: “Emilia’s love (of Desdemona) is Iago’s undoing”JARVIS: “a *****’s death”LEAVIS: “[tragedy is] inherent in the Othello-Desdemona relation”MCRAE: “[Desdemona and Othello] are reunited in death, but it is not a triumph of their love, it is a triumph of a Machiavellian, nasty devil over life.NEWMAN: “[O and D’s marriage is a] cultural aporia”SMITH: the handkerchief is BLACK, not WHITE – e.g. “dyed with mummy” – places more emphasis on Desdemona’s purity than Othello’s race – once again marginalises black peopleSTOCKHOLDER: “[D doesn’t notice the handkerchief missing because] she is too concerned about the real object of her love – Othello” |
| Race | COWHIG: “an alien in a white society”FREDERICKSON: “Othello does not in fact conform to any racial stereotype”LOOMBA: “[Othello becomes] a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynist ones”LOOMBA: “[black people were seen as] godless, hideous and bestial”LOOMBA: “[both women and blacks existed as] the other”NEWMAN: “[O and D’s marriage is a] cultural aporia”SMITH: the handkerchief is BLACK, not WHITE – e.g. “dyed with mummy” – places more emphasis on Desdemona’s purity than Othello’s race – once again marginalises black peopleVANITA: “Othello’s blackness does not diminish his power over his wife” |
| Sin and religion | GILBERT: “[Shakespeare adds] a contemporary religious dimension [to the play]”JARVIS: “a *****’s death”NORRIS: “Bianca [alludes to] the problematic status of women [in the contemporary era]” |
| The contemporary era | HOPKINS: “[Cyprus was based around] commodities (e.g. link to “put money in thy purse”)LOOMBA: “England was increasingly hostile to foreigners”LOOMBA: “[black people were seen as] godless, hideous and bestial”LOOMBA: “[both women and blacks existed as] the other” |
| Women | COX: “[Desdemona is] damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t”JARDINE: “all three women are accused of sexual misdemeanour” JARVIS: “a *****’s death”LOOMBA: “[both women and blacks existed as] the other”NORRIS: “Bianca [alludes to] the problematic status of women [in the contemporary era]”SIMPSON: “[the audience has to] understand that wives were required to be obedient [to reason] Emilia’s handing over of the handkerchief”VANITA: “Othello’s blackness does not diminish his power over his wife” |
| Misc | ANKIT: “Through his soliloquies and asides, we feel like Iago is looking into the play with us, almost like a narrator making scathing comments about the characters…we [feel like we are also] caught in his web of deception”COX: “[nearly every scene of the play depends upon a character] seeing or knowing something”MCRAE: noted that “all of Shakespeare’s plays were set into a 5-act structure in the 1720s” – Shakespeare didn’t intend this?MCRAE: what tips the balance from “potential comedy to definite tragedy” is something so “trivial” – it’s a question of a “handkerchief”MCRAE: “It’s a tragedy of men and women being human, men and women being flawed, being manipulated. It is a tragedy of human life.”MCRAE: “[Desdemona and Othello] are reunited in death, but it is not a triumph of their love, it is a triumph of a Machiavellian, nasty devil over life.” |
Othello – CRITICS (updated)
September 8, 2019