opposing critics Othello Flashcards
Othello comes to have his life crowned with the final glory of love
AC. Bradley
*preoccupation with his emotions rather than with Desdemona
F.R Leavis
yields with extraordinary promptness… mind that undoes him is not Iago but his own.”
Leavis
refutes this critic as : his internalised racism (predisposition to jealousy). is caused by the insults he faces
VS “ any man situated as Othello would have been disturbed by Iago’s communications.”
“Othello does not show jealousy, he is not jealous in proper sense of that word, in his soliloquy passion is traced only after an interval of solitude”
A.C Bradley
corroborating the greatness of Othello:
“greater and nobler Othello still, final words in which all glory and agony of his life” “dies upon a kiss, leaves us for the moment free from pain”
AC Bradley
-Othello is a majestic and glorious character (also in his death)
-his suicide is seen as a heroic act, a restoration of peace (poetic element)
-HOWEVER disagree as : he kills himself because of his mistake (to save honour) his suicide could be seen as pathetic and self-serving
supporting : “Othello’s suicide is the most defensible morally. It is not an escape from an intolerable life but an act of justice… stigmatises himself as a criminal”
Helen Gardner
VS “Othello’s last words …endeavouring to escape reality, thinking about himself. succeeds in turning himself into a pathetic figure, by adopting an aesthetic rather than a moral figure, dramatising himself against his environment, exposed this bovarysme (disposition towards dreaming in one imagining oneself as a hero)”
T.S Elliot
link to Leavis’ idea of “self-dramatisation”
“Othello’s fault is simplicity alone. He loves “not wisely but too well” “takes pride in recalling his honourable service”
G.Wilson Knight
