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Context and textual form construct ideas that remain perpetual throughout all societies, yet the values behind these ideas differ in nature. Shakespeare’s play, the tragedy Othello, and its contemporary counterpart, Tim Blake Nelson’s film “O”, expresses themes of power and jealousy that remain consistent in...
Othello is a tragedy by William Shakespeare set in Venice. Othello is a highly respected general and Iago is his ambitious comrade. Othello promotes Michael Cassio to the position of lieutenant and Iago becomes extremely jealous. Iago begins plotting against Othello, the eponymous hero, and...
Misogyny can be defined as the cultural attitude of hatred for females simply due to the fact that they are female and are seen as inferior to men in the Elizabethan society, because of misogyny, women live in a society dominated by men. As we...
Othello is a man of action. Hamlet is a man of inaction. If Hamlet were placed in Othello’s world and vice versa one could assume that both would function well in those circumstances. Othello is a man of action in a play that demands his...
At first glance, Shakespeare’s Desdemona may seem like woman remarkable for her beauty and not much else. In fact, Desdemona is a foil and a catalyst who wields power over men who desire her. The male characters in Othello want to control Desdemona because possession...
Geographical juxtaposition is not uncommon in the genius works of William Shakespeare. In his renowned play, Othello, Shakespeare exploits the stark contrasts in the story’s two settings, the two cities of Venice and Cyprus. Shakespeare presents the environmental, moral, and behavioral dichotomies between Venice and...
In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, the character Emilia is essential in exploring the theme of gender and the expectations placed on women. The anonymous writer of, “From Counsel to the Husband: To the Wife Instruction” believes the answer to maintaining a happy marriage is for both...
According to the great English essayist and scholar William Hazlitt, the character of Iago from William Shakespeare’s masterpiece Othello “is one of the supererogations of Shakespeare’s genius,” due the fact that Iago’s “villainy is without a sufficient motive” (345). Othello is one of the four...
In “Women and Men in Othello: ‘what should such a fool/Do with so good a woman?’,” critic Carol Thomas Neely asserts that nearly all rational thought in Othello comes from women. In Neely’s view, the men of Othello are too consumed by pride, jealousy, and...
The tragedy in both Othello and Macbeth is found not so much in the scattering of bodies covering the stage at the end of each play, but instead in the degeneration of the plays’ respective protagonists. Men championed by Shakespeare at the beginning of the...
“Is this the promised end?” Analyse the final scene of Othello. “Iago, you have done well that men must lay their murders on your neck” [5:2 line 166, p.157]. This ironic tone is akin to that of “Is this the promised end?” Can it be...
Shakespeare weaves an intricate web ensnaring the characters in The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice. A handkerchief, a small and seemingly insignificant square of fabric, exerts magical powers over the characters as it transfers from person to person in the play. Six characters...
As far as last words of tragic heroes go, Shakespeare’s Othello’s are distinctly honorable. He says to Lodovico, nobleman who is returning to Venice: When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice....
Shakespeare’s Othello is indeed a powerful and impressive figure who is tragically brought down by Iago, a villain who goes undetected through his great drive and intellect until the very end of the play. Despite his shortcomings — of which a lack of self-knowledge is...
It is commonly believed that one can perceive the soul through a person’s eyes. However, Shakespeare allows the audience and readers to perceive the inner spirit of a character through his words, thereby giving words magnificent power. Throughout the play Othello, the progressive deterioration of...
As Othello, Laurence Olivier entreats the Venetian nobles to relate the true account of his actions and motivations. Olivier’s words seem almost imploring, suggesting that he is an outsider seeking approval from those with foreign sympathies. At the beginning of his address, little in his...
Academy Award for Best Actor, Anthony Hopkins, Appearance & Reality, Black people, Derek Jacobi, Frank Finlay, Iago, John Gielgud, King Lear, Laurence Fishburne
That the character Desdemona in Shakespeare’s play Othello holds on to her dignified manner until the very end, when she is murdered by her jealous husband, is indicative not only of her chaste mind, but also of her willful determination. Given that women of the...
In Shakespeare’s Othello, the primary obstacle in Othello and Desdemona’s relationship is Othello’s race, and hence, his status as an outsider. This difference becomes a barrier when Brabantio objects to their marriage, however, it plays much more of a role in facilitating Iago’s manipulation and...
The first scene of Othello’s fifth act, unlike those before it, is dominated by physical violence, with Iago at the centre playing the “puppet master”. This scene reminds the audience of the capabilities Iago possesses in controlling the more malleable characters, namely Roderigo. Shakespeare also...
Marilyn French asserts that Shakespeare only constructs two types of women, the “virtuous subhuman or deceiving subhuman.” In conjugation with the Elizabethan expectation of an “acceptable version of the feminine” woman, a woman who is passive, obedient and chaste, Shakespeare has constructed Desdemona as a...
Emilia from Othello and Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream both experience a constant battle against the institutions of men, such as marriage and courting. These institutions have the implications of turning these women against their own sex and self because of the institutions’ placing...
Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragedy unlike others of it’s time. Othello is a play concerned with domestic fidelity more than royal usurpations. It is a play in which ocular proof comes from a mystical strawberry handkerchief rather than a ghost of a murdered king. Indeed,...
“IAGO: Stand you a while apart. Confine yourself but in a patient list. Whilst you were here, o’erwhelmèd with your grief – A passion most unsuiting such a man – Cassio came hither. I shifted him away, And laid good ‘scuse upon your ecstasy, Bade...
“I must weep, / But they are cruel tears,” says Othello near the end of his soliloquy in Act Five, Scene Two, right before killing Desdemona. Traditional Shakespearean murderers do not shed tears prior to killing their victim; in Shakespeare’s Othello, however, the Moor is...
In her 1987 staging of “Othello” at the Market Theatre in South Africa, Janet Suzman aimed to make a pertinent artistic and cultural statement about both the political system of Apartheid and its deep racial underpinnings. Recorded on video for dissemination abroad, Suzman’s production is...
Shakespeare’s Othello (Shakespeare, 1604) is a tragedy that unfolds based on the actions and language of one character: Iago. As a result, the plot is linear, yet the play manages to maintain a multidimensional effect. Shakespeare uses the language of the characters to achieve this...
Shakespeare is often recognized for a contributing to the canon in a way that causes the adage “there is nothing new under the sun” to ring true. His talent for developing old literary and mythic plots and themes in order to address contemporary British issues...
Iago’s isolation from humanity is ideological and emotional hermitry rather than physical solitariness: he detaches himself from social standards and practices, but continues to weave his diabolical influence as a player in the social scene, creating chaos and tragedy. His moral isolation is seen early...
In Richard Dyer’s essay, (now book) White, he states: There are inevitable associations of white with light and therefore safety, and black with dark and therefore danger, and that this explains racism (whereas one might well argue about the safety of the cover of darkness,...
Othello is, among other things, a play about words. Each character’s essence is expressed by a distinct idiom, and each character succeeds or fails, at least to an extent, because of language. A passage in the temptation scene, 3.3.191-222, demonstrates how Iago uses language to...
Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Michael Cassio, Emilia, Roderigo, Bianca, Brabanzio, Duke of Venice, Montano, Lodovico, Graziano, Clown
Symbols/motives
Sight and blindness, plants, animals, hell, demons, and monsters, the handkerchief, the song “Willow”
Themes
The incompatibility of military heroism and love, the danger of isolation, race, religious and philosophical, the hero
Quotes
"She loved me for the dangers I had passed, And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used." "I kissed thee ere I killed thee—no way but this, killing myself to die upon a kiss" "Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial" "Men in rage strike those that wish them best" "But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at: I am not what I am"
Interesting facts
Othello as a literary character has appeared in many representations within popular culture over several centuries. There also have been over a dozen film adaptations of Othello. In Shakespeare's source material, the only character with a name is Desdemona. There are currently 20 film versions and adaptations of the play Iago is by far the most verbose character of the play. The name 'Othello' means wealth. The word 'honesty' or variants thereof are used 52 times over the course of the play.
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