Othello | Criticism

  • Overview

    In this excerpt, A. C. Bradley highlights aspects of Othello that reinforce its emotional impact: the rapid acceleration of the plot, the intensity of Othello's jealousy, the passive suffering of Desdemona, and the luck and skill involved in Iago's intrigue.

  • Jealousy

    In this excerpt, D. R. Godfrey examines the portrayal of jealousy in Othello, concluding that Iago exhibits "an all-encompassing jealousy directed not only against sexual love but against love itself in all its manifestations." As a result, envious hatred takes possession of his soul, motivates his actions, and turns him into "the most completely villainous character in all literature."

  • Race

    In this excerpt, Ruth Cowhig provides background on blacks in England during Shakespeare's time. She concludes that lago's racism is the source of his hatred of Othello, and that he plays on the prejudices of other characters to turn them against the Moor. Cowhig asserts that Shakespeare consistently challenges stereotypes with his depiction of Othello.

  • Time

    In this excerpt, Harley Granville-Barker examines the dramatic structure of Othello and explicates the relation between Shakespeare's manipulation of time and the theme of sexual jealousy. The critic contends that the precipitous action is both dramatically convincing, since it hurries the audience along, and consistent with the recklessness of Iago and the pathological sexual jealousy that flaws the character of Othello.

  • Othello

    In the first excerpt, Albert Gerard examines Othello's personality, discovering cracks in the "facade" of the generous, confident self-disciplined husband and general. The second excerpt is by Wyndham Lewis, who wrote in a deliberately provocative style and outside the mainstream of Shakespearean criticism. Lewis argues that Othello depicts "the race of men at war with the race of titans" and that the gods have predetermined that Iago, the petty Everyman, will triumph over the grandeur of Othello.

  • Iago

    A.C. Bradley, in the first excerpt, closely investigates Iago's character by examining his soliloquies. Finding that the motives of hatred and ambition inadequately account for Iago's actions, Bradley stresses the importance of the character's sense of superiority and his self-interest in determining his behavior. In the second excerpt, Henry Warnken examines the relationship between Iago and Othello, determining that while Iago's evil corrupts Othello, the potential for evil already lurked within the Moor—Iago merely frees his capacity for evil.

  • Desdemona

    In this excerpt, S. N. Garner elucidates Desdemona's character, maintaining that Shakespeare carefully balanced the other characters' accounts of her as goddess or whore to present a complex portrait. Garner points out that Desdemona's liveliness and assertiveness are confirmed by her marriage to Othello and that these positive traits become a fatal liability.