Othello criticism Flashcards

1
Q

Dolan (2001) on Othello

A

‘domestic tyrant who murders his wife on spurious grounds’

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2
Q

F.R Leavis (1937) on Othello

A

‘self-pride becomes stupidity, ferocious stupidity, an insane and self deceiving passion’

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3
Q

Swinburne (19th Century) on Othello

A

‘the noblest man of man’s making’

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4
Q

Bradley (1904) on Othello

A

‘the most romantic figure among Shakespeare’s heroes’

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5
Q

Bradley (1904) on Othello’s transformation

A

‘the fact that Othello was newly married makes his jealousy credible’

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6
Q

Fintan O’Toole (2000) on Othello’s transformation

A

‘Iago’s brilliance lies not in what he puts in Othello’s mind but in what he pulls out of it’

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7
Q

Bradley (1904) on Othello’s final speech

A

‘He is to save Desdemona from herself, not in hate but in honor; in honor, and also in love. His anger has passed; a boundless sorrow has taken its place’

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8
Q

T.S Eliot (20th Century) on Othello’s final speech

A

‘Endeavoring to escape reality, he has ceased to think about Desdemona, and he is thinking about himself’

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9
Q

T.S Eliot (20th Century) on Othello’s final speech

A

‘Othello succeeds in turning himself into a pathetic figure’

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10
Q

Coleridge (19th century) on Iago

A

‘a being next to the devil driven by motiveless malignity’

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11
Q

F.R Leavis (1937) on Iago

A

‘Iago is a mechanism necessary for precipitating the tragedy’

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12
Q

Dr Leah Scragg (1970) on Iago

A

‘an example of the typical stage Machiavel who personifies self-interest, hypocrisy, cunning’

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13
Q

Tennenhouse (1986) on Desdemona

A

‘Desdemona has to be destroyed because she is subversive’

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14
Q

Marilyn French (1982) on Desdemona

A

‘accepts her cultures dictom that she must be obedient to males and is self denying in the extreme when she dies’

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15
Q

Emma smith (2020) on Desdemona

A

‘she goes from being a person to being a prop.’

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16
Q

E.A.J Honigmann (20th century) on Iago

A

‘Despite his cleverness Iago has neither felt nor understood the spiritual impulses that bind ordinary human beings together, loyalty, friendship, respect, compassion - in a word - love. Emilia’s love of Desdemona is Iago’s undoing’

17
Q

Penny Gay (1998) on Emilia

A

‘Whereas Desdemona is a pathetic victim of circumstances, it is arguable that Emilia is the truly tragic female figure in this story: a more complex woman, whose death is brought about as much by her own inner conflicts of loyalty as by her psychopathic husband.’

18
Q

Carol Thomas Neely (1985) on Emilia

A

‘She moves from tolerating men’s fancies to exploding them’.

19
Q

Carol Thomas Neely (1985) on Roderigo

A

‘Roderigo… shows in exaggerated fashion the dangerous combination of romanticism and cynicism and the dissociation of love and sex which all the men share’.

20
Q

Carol Thomas Neely (1985) on Brabantio

A

‘Brabantio shifts abruptly from protective affection for the chaste Desdemona… to physical revulsion from the sexuality revealed by her elopement’.

21
Q

Carol Thomas Neely (1985) on Bianca

A

‘The play’s humanisation of her… underlines the folly of the male characters who see her as merely whore’.