Othello - Critics Flashcards
Iago’s motivations are motiveless
“motiveless malignity” - Coleridge
symbolism of the storm
“the storm prefigures the discord and fragmentation to come” - Pamela Mason
stereotypes of black people
black people were typed as “Godless, bestial and hideous” - Loomba
Iago is the jealous one not Othello
“The real jealousy at work in the play is not Othello’s but Iago’s. When he speaks of jealousy as a green-eyed monster Iago knows what he is talking about” - Ben Okri
play as a tragedy
“tragedy as the fall from prosperity to wretchedness” - Kastan
Othello as tragic hero
“total reversal of fortune” - Bradley
Iago’s godlike power
“a godlike sense of power” - Honigmann
Stereotypes - only work if not external to us
“ideologies…only work because they are not external to us. Othello is a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynistic ones” - Loomba
Iago’s motivations based on other character’s sharing his flaws
“Iago embodies his victim’s psychological flaws” - Charles Boyce
Symbolism of the handkerchief
“the handkerchief in Othello becomes a potent token in the politics of marital fidelity, resonating with the deep anxieties of the period” - Lisa Jardine
Desdemona used by Othello to project his own insecurities
“Desdemona becomes the screen upon which Othello projects his insecurities and fears” - Janet Adelman
Othello’s alienation
“Othello’s gradual isolation in the play is as much a product of his racial otherness as it is of Iago’s machinations” - Edward Berry
Desdemona’s struggles reflecting society
“Desdemona’s plight illustrates the precarious position of women who must navigate a society structured around male authority and power”
Iago as playwright
“he has the mind of a playwright” - Ben Okri
the play about loss of faith
“Othello becomes a tragedy about the loss of faith” - G.K. Hunter
