othello critics Flashcards
(25 cards)
Thomas Rymer
Outraged by black hero No moral lesson - not a tragedy Caution to not run away with ‘blackamoors’ Othello - jealous booby Iago too villainous to believe
Rymer date
1693
Dr Johnson
Very useful moral - do not make an unequal match
Dr Johnson date
1765
Coleridge
Iago driven by ‘motiveless malignity’
No motivation
Coleridge date
19th century beginning
19th century critics
Desdemona is a strumpet with no morals
Swinburne
Othello is ‘noblest man of man’s making’
Swinburne date
End of 19th century
AC Bradley
Othello is romantic and blameless
Newness of marriage makes jealousy credible
Never falls completely
We feel admiration at the end
Bradley date
1904
TS Eliot
Othello trying to evade reality
Speech is an exposure of human weakness
FR Leavis
No tragic self discovery at the speech
Othello is ‘un self comprehending’
Responsible for downfall - propensity for jealousy and a weak character
Love = ignorance of self and Desdemona
Iago homosexuality
1950s
Driven by latent homosexuality
Leah Scragg
Iago is a Machiavel
Personifies self interest, hypocrisy, cunning
Christianity of Othello - 20th century critics
Christian significance of certain speeches
Othello is damned - suicide against God’s law
Soul destroying sins
Contract with devil - Iago
Play affirms Christian morals - love is good vengeance is wicked pride is dangerous
20th century - Desdemona
Goddess and saint
Represented goodness purity
Commitment to love
Marilyn French
Masculine value system
Desdemona accepts cultures dictum that she must be obedient to males
Self denying in the extreme
Marilyn French date
1982
Lisa Jardine
Jacobean drama is wholly masculine Only a male viewpoint Desdemona is too knowing and independent Punished for waywardness Desdemona is a stereotype of female passivity
Lisa Jardine date
1983
Leonard Tennenhouse
Jacobean drama - scenes of excessive punishment as if mutilating the female could correct political corruption
Demands death or takes responsibility for murder - common trope
Desdemona destroyed bc she is subversive
Desdemona is embodiment of power in Act 1
Leonard Tennenhouse date
1986
Ania Loomba
Central conflict - white patriarchy and threat of interracial relationship
Women and black people are the other
Othello is near schizophrenic, split consciousness
Othello is honorary white but is total outsider due to relationship
Use play to examine ideas about racism
