Crictical Readings And Approaches To Othello Flashcards
What 2 ideas does Thomas Rymer (1693) say about Othello?
Iago was too evil to believe
The play was a warning to not marry someone of a different race
What 2 ideas does Dr Johnson suggest about Othello? (Contemporary reading)
The play was realistic/ true to life
Shakespeare depicts human nature skilfully
What are the 3 main thoughts Coleridge has on Othello? (19th century)
Iago was driven by motiveless hatred
Othello shouldn’t be viewed as a negro but a moorish chief (Arabic rather than black)
Othello’s hamartia is not his jealousy but his overwhelming love for Desdemona
What does Hazlitt say about Iago?
Iago does evil because he is bad by nature and his motives are not justified, just excuses to hide his evil nature.
What 3 opinions does A.C Bradley have on Othello? (20th Century)
Othello was a tragic hero
Othello was a victim of Iago’s manipulation, not a bad person form the start
Othello was the best and most romantic of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes
What 2 ideas does F.R Leavis introduce when critically reading Othello?
Rejects any social or historical context and the authors intent when writing the play
The idea that great literature offers order and a set of values, both of which are lacking in society
What does Germaine Greer have to say about Othello? (recent reading)
We no longer experience the commonness of references to Satan in everyday as Shakespearean contemporaries would have, but we still understand his racist aggression.
What does Karen Newman say about Othello? (1988)
Othello does conform to white elitist views of other races but he is also represented as heroic in a time that black people didn’t have a high status.
What are the 3 main feminist readings of Othello?
Misogynistic treatment of women
Patriarchal fear of female sexuality
Shakespeare’s female characters challenge traditions - Desdemona is not a saint and Emilia often argues for gender equality
What is Jacqueline Dusinberre’s feminist reading of Othello from 1996?
Shakespeare saw men and women as equals
Shakespeare did not divide human nature into ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’
What is Karen Newman’s feminist theory of Othello.
Desdemona’s choice of love is heroic rather than demonic
Desdemona subverts conventions bc she chooses Othello which would not have been acceptable at the time.
What is JW Lever’s political reading of Othello?
The important flaw of the play is not that of Othello but that of the world in which he inhabits.
The disorder of the social and political state of society should be focused on more than Othello’s flaws.
What is the political view of Dollimore and Sinfield when it comes to Othello?
The study of the villains in the play deflects attention away from the plays comments on the political and social tensions of the period.
