critics **** Flashcards
(21 cards)
David Kastan // uncertainty
‘For Shakespeare… the uncertainty is the point’
Leavis // tragedy.. learning from suffering
‘The tragedy doesn’t involve the idea of the hero’s learning through suffering’
Ania Loomba // racial .. misogynistic
‘Othello is a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he is an agent of misogynist ones’
Nicole Smith // not a text about race
‘This is not a text about race (or even racism) but this is the tale of a man that fell victim to and committed terrible acts’
Nicole Smith // otherness… othello
‘Race is the otherness that separates Othello’
Nicole Smith // othello is a man like any other
‘As the play progresses, it is clear that Othello is a man like any other in the text, the only difference is his race’
Mark Goth // iago.. temptation
Iago is a character of temptation - he tempts Cassio to drink, and Othello to kill his wife and give into jealousy.
Honningham // dramatic perspective
‘Dramatic perspective can even make us the villain’s accomplices’
Honnigham // emilias love (of desdemona)
‘Emelia’s love (of Desdemona) is Iago’s undoing’
Jane Anderson // iago… catalyst that precipitates
Iago is more a catalyst that precipitates destruction rather than a devil who causes it
O’Toole // iago.. not what he puts into othellos mind
“Iago’s brilliance lies not in what he puts into Othello’s mind, but what he draws out of it”
Cox // death… dishonour
“Death was preferred to dishonour”
Harold Bloom // jealous… fear and mistrust
the tragedy of othello is not just about jealousy but the destructive power of fear and mistrust
Sean MeEvoy // othello… lives life according to a set of stories
‘Othello’s tragedy is that he lives according to a set of stories through which he interprets the world…He is living the life of a chivalric warrior in a world run by money and self-interest.’ ***
S.L. Bethell // othello and iago.. good and evil
“Othello and Iago…[participate] in the age-long warfare of Good and Evil.”
colderidge // the perfection of women
“The perfection of women is to be characterless…everyone wishes a Desdemona for a wife.”
jarvis // whore… innocences
‘A whore’s death for all her innocences.’
cox // divide into virgins… devils
[Female] ‘characters divide into virgins and saints or whores and devils’
ania loomba // women and blacks
“Women and Blacks exist as ‘the other’.”
f.r. leavis // othellos dies acting
“othello dies acting his ideal part… a man of action”
ac bradley // dust
“greatness into dust”
