Guy Hollands (director)
‘Without a sub-plot, Othello is an uncluttered play’
Christopher North’s theory
Theory of Double Time - the main action is set over two days to make it dramatically effective, but Shakespeare makes it seem as though for more time has passed to make the plot more believable
Kenneth Muir on Shakespeare’s concerns in writing Othello
‘Shakespeare was concerned with the difficulty of distinguishing between appearance and reality, with the impossibility of detecting an absolute hypocrite’
Martin Rosenberg on Shakespeare’s purpose in writing Othello
In Othello, Shakespeare was ‘probing into the roots of human wickedness’
Graham Bradshaw on the key concerns in Othello
A play which is primarily concerned with the instability and unknowability of the self
Guy Hollands on the domestic nature of the tragedy
‘a play that takes place within a small world, a world that is not concerned with large social issues of war, but with petty, personal emotions and worries’
James Hirsh on the tragedy
‘tragedy of perception’ - seeing and imagining constantly being juxtaposed and twisted
John McRae on the tragedy
‘it is a tragedy of human life’
George Bernard Shaw on the language of the play
‘Tested by the brain it is ridiculous; tested by the ear it is sublime’
Tony Tanner on the legal language of the play
‘the law is, somehow, everywhere in the air’
2.1 (John McRae)
Cassio must be a ‘good strong soldier’
‘This has got to be seen as a welcoming scene’
Argues that 1.3 is Othello and Desdemona’s personal triumph over the senate in contrast to this bolder scene of affection
3.1 (John McRae)
This scene is often cut
Thomas Rhymer on the message of the play
Argues that no moral lesson can be learnt from Othello
