Otello, National Video Corporation Ltd., 1982. A performance of Verdi's opera starring Kiri Te Kanawa, Vladimir Atlantov, and Piero Cappuccilli. Distributed by Home Vision and HBO Home Video. Runtime: 135 minutes.

Otello, Cannon Films, 1986. A highly praised film adaptation of Verdi's opera directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Featuring Placido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, and Justino Diaz. Presented in Italian with English subtitles. Distributed by Media Home Entertainment Inc. Runtime: 123 minutes.

Othello, UFA, 1922. A silent film version of Shakespeare's tragedy starring Emil Jannings, Lya de Putti, and Werner Krauss. Distributed by Video Yesteryear and Discount Video Tapes Inc. Runtime: 81 minutes.

Othello, United Artists, 1952. A film adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy directed by Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles as Othello, Michael Mac Liammoir as Iago, and Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona. Runtime: 91 minutes.

Othello, BBC London, Time-Life Films, 1982. A television adaptation of Shakespeare's drama featuring Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, and Penelope Wilton. Distributed by Time-Life Video. Runtime: 120 minutes.

Sources

Adamson, Jane. "Othello" as Tragedy: Some Problems of Judgment and Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

Booth, Stephen. "King Lear," "Othello": Indefinition and Tragedy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983.

Campell, Lily B. Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes: Slaves of Passion. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1973.

Elliott, George Roy. Flaming Minister: A Study of "Othello" as a Tragedy of Love and Hate. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1953.

Erickson, Peter. Patriarchal Structures in Shakespeare's Drama. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985.

Evans, Bertrand. Shakespeare's Tragic Practice. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.

Heilman, Robert B. Magic in the Web: Action and Language in Othello. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1956.

Holloway, John. The Story of the Night: Studies in Shakespeare's Major Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1961.

Kiefer, Frederick. Fortune and Elizabethan Tragedy. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1983.

Kirsch, Arthur. The Passions of Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1990.

McElroy, Bernard. Shakespeare's Mature Tragedies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Muir, Kenneth. William Shakespeare: The Great Tragedies. London: Longmans, Green & Company, 1966.

Ogude, S.E. "Literature and Racism: The Example of Othello," in Othello: New Essays by Black Writers. Edited by Mythili Kaul. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1997, pp. 151-166.

Othello. The Folger Library. Edited by Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. Lamar. New York: Washington Square Press, 1957.

Ribner, Irving. Patterns in Shakespearean Tragedy. London: Methuen, 1960.

Shakespearean Criticism. Edited by Mark Scott. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company Book Tower, 1987.

Singh, Sarup. Family Relationships in Shakespeare and the Restoration Comedy of Manners. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Speaight, Robert. Shakespeare on The Stage. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1973.

Spivack, Bernard. Shakespeare and the Allegory of Evil. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.

Sundelson, David. Shakespeare's Restoration of the Father. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1983.

Vaughn, Virginia Mason. Othello: A Contextual History. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1999.

Wilson, Harold S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957.

Further Study

Adamson, W. D. "Unpinned or Undone? Desdemona's Critics and the Problem of Sexual Innocence," in Shakespeare Studies XIII (1980): 169-86. Argues that Shakespeare portrays Desdemona as "legally innocent of adultery, morally innocent of idly considering it, and psychologically innocent of even being capable of it."

Auden, W. H. "The Joker in the Pack," in his The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays, pp. 246-72. New York: Random House, 1948. Compares Iago to a practical joker who lacks personal feelings or values but manipulates others by exploiting their genuine desires. Auden also suggests that Othello values his marriage to Desdemona not out of profound love, but because he believes it signifies his complete integration into Venetian society.

Dash, Irene G. "A Woman Tamed: Othello," in her Wooing, Wedding, and Power: Women in Shakespeare's Plays, pp. 103-30. New York: Columbia University Press, 1981. Asserts that Othello illustrates "the cost to husband and wife ... of attempting to conform to stereotyped ideals of marriage."

Gregson, J. M. "Othello," in his Public and Private Man in Shakespeare, pp. 156-76. London: Croom Helm, 1983. Asserts that Othello and Hamlet are polar opposites and argues that the true tragedy in Othello lies in the Moor's failure to distinguish his public role as a military leader from his private decisions as a husband.

Grudin, Robert. "Contrariety as Structure: The Later Tragedies," in his Mighty Opposites: Shakespeare and Renaissance Contrariety, pp. 119-79. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Suggests that Desdemona's "type of lamblike femininity" attracts Othello but not Shakespeare, who uses her passive helplessness ironically to "sharpen the impulse to aggression in others." Grudin compares the ambiguities of her virtue to the complexities of Iago's wickedness.

Hallstead, R. N. "Idolatrous Love: A New Approach to Othello," in Shakespeare Quarterly XIX, No. 2 (Spring 1968): 107-24. Claims that after Othello and Desdemona consummate their marriage in Cyprus, Othello's love becomes so excessive it is theologically idolatrous. Hallstead describes Othello as a "morality play in a completely realistic framework," noting that Othello renounces Christianity by swearing a pagan oath with Iago in Act III, scene iii, but also shows a pattern of Christian penance in the final scene, suggesting a "return of Othello's Christianity."

Hyman, Stanley Edgar. Iago: Some Approaches to the Illusion of His Motivation. New York: Atheneum, 1970, 180 p. Examines Iago's motives from five critical perspectives, questioning whether he should be seen as "a stage villain, Satan, an artist, a latent homosexual, or a Machiavel." Hyman argues that a pluralistic approach reveals the "tension, paradox, and irony" in Shakespeare's portrayal of Iago, while a single line of inquiry is "inevitably reductive and partial."

Kott, Jan. "The Two Paradoxes of Othello," in his Shakespeare Our Contemporary, translated by Boleslaw Taborski, pp. 99-125. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1964. Argues that the conflict between Othello and Iago represents a "dispute on the nature of the world" and an exploration of human existence. Kott highlights two paradoxical events: Iago's victimization by his own evil and Desdemona's enjoyment of the erotic aspects of love, which leads Othello to suspect her of infidelity.

Morris, Harry. "Othello: No Amount of Prayer Can Possibly Matter," in his Last Things in Shakespeare, pp. 76-114. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1985. Interprets Othello as a Christian allegory centered on the theme of damnation.

Murry, John Middleton. "Desdemona's Handkerchief," in his Shakespeare, pp. 311-21. London: Jonathan Cape, 1936. Argues that Desdemona's loss of the handkerchief symbolizes the depth of her love for Othello, as she became careless of it only "when Othello was sick and her concern for the man she loved drove out all concern for the token of their love."

Neely, Carol Thomas. "Women and Men in Othello: 'What should such a fool / Do with so good a woman?'," in The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare, pp. 211-39, edited by Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz, Gayle Greene, and Carol Thomas Neely. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980. This analysis explores the similarities between the women in Othello and the heroines in Shakespeare's comedies, highlighting their abilities to initiate courtship, endure men's whims, and balance romantic idealism with a realistic understanding of sexuality.

Nelson, T. G. A. and Charles Haines, in "Othello's Unconsummated Marriage." Essays in Criticism XXXIII, No. 1 (January 1983): 1-18. Argues that Othello's rage and intense emotions in Acts III and IV stem from his unfulfilled desires.

Rice, Julian C. "Desdemona Unpinned: Universal Guilt in Othello," in Shakespeare Studies VII (1974): 209-26. Contends that despite Desdemona's apparent virtue, she shares the same human flaws and moral vulnerabilities as Othello and the other characters. Rice asserts that Desdemona is partly responsible for her own murder due to her "overconfidence in the power of virtue to triumph."

Rosenberg, Marvin. The Masks of Othello: The Search for the Identity of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona by Three Centuries of Actors and Critics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961, 313 p. This book provides an overview of how actors from the Restoration to the mid-20th century have interpreted the main characters of the play. Rosenberg aims to synthesize literary critics' commentary with the interpretations of leading performers, emphasizing the essential humanity of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona.

Sen Gupta, S. C. "Symbolism in Othello," in his Aspects of Shakespearian Tragedy, pp. 88-113. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1972. Asserts that Othello and Iago "represent the eternal conflict—both internal and external—between the forces of Love and Hate, of Good and Evil, and the realization that the conflict cannot be resolved is part of the tragedy of human life."

Wain, John, ed. Shakespeare: Othello. London: Macmillan, 1971, 244 p. A compilation of essays by notable critics on various aspects of Othello.