Critical interpretations Flashcards
F.R Leavis - Othello
Othello has a propensity to jealousy and possess a weak character.
Kiernan Ryan - Jealousy
Although none of them is as consumed by jealousy as Othello, all these characters fall prey like him to ‘the green-eyed monster’ (3.3.166) that stalks any society in which the sexual desire of one human being is regarded as the property of another.
Iftikhar Hussain Lone - Iago
Psychologically, Iago is a slighted man, powerfully possessed by hatred against his master.
Samuel Johnson - Iago
The cool malignity of Iago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs.
S.T Coleridge - Iago
Iago is a being next to the devil only not quite devil.
Kiernan Ryan - Iago
Iago’s devious stratagem works so well because it reflects his victim’s own beliefs, confirms their suspicions and fulfils their expectations.
William Hazlitt - Iago
Iago is an example of the typical stage Machiavel who personifies rationality, self-interest, hypocrisy, cunning, expediency and efficient ‘policie’,
Alexandra Melville - Iago
Iago’s success lies in his ability to distort and pervert what should be other characters’ most positive traits.
Ania Loomba
The play should be used to examine and dismantle the racism and sexism of the leadership of the state.
Othello is a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes
an agent of misogynist ones
Kiernan Ryan - Othello and Desdemona
Othello and Desdemona find unleashed upon them, in the shape of Iago, the venomous rage of society whose foundations are rocked by the mere fact of their marriage.
Shakespeare makes it plain from the start that it’s not just Iago the newly-weds are up against, but the status quo and a view of the world which Iago merely embodies in its most lethal form.
A.C Bradley - Othello
Othello is a man of mystery, exoticism and intense feeling, trustful, open, passionate but self-controlled.
F.R Leavis - Othello
Othello has a propensity to jealousy and possess a weak character.
Sean Mcevoy - Othello
Othello’s tragedy is that he is living the life of a chivalric warrior in a world run by money and self-interest..
Hugh Quarshie - Iago
It may be Othello’s tragedy, but it is Iago’s play.
Helen Gardner - Iago
Iago is monstrous because his only reaction is calculation and the desire to manipulate.
W.H Clemen - Othello
Othello’s fantasy is filled with images of repulsive animals that at that point are peculiar to Iago.
Iago’s endeavor to poison Othello’s imagination has been successful.
Marilyn French
In spite of her masculine assertiveness in choosing her own husband, Desdemona accepts her culture’s dictum that she must be obedient to males and is self-denying in the extreme when she dies.
Samuel Johnson - Desdemona
The soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit, unconscious of innocence.
Ridley
Cassio is a pivotal figure with great importance to the movement of the plot
Veronica Walker
Cassio is a beautiful written foil to the General.
Norris
Bianca is an allusion to the problematic status of women both in this period and today.
Eales
Bianca is weaker in judgement.
Hall
Bianca is a sexually free woman who is nevertheless pure in spirit.
Brennan
In embroiling Emilia in the handkerchief’s varied journey, Shakespeare indicates to us her ignorance of the really vicious nature of her husband.
