Fort Street Press is publishing a book of critical interpretations of your set Shakespeare text.
William Shakespeare wrote many plays. In this collection of critical interpretations one can begin to understand the vast enormity of different readings that have been amassed since Shakespeare's plays were first published.
Although Shakespeare was the playwright to many plays, this collection will concentrate on one of the plays that were written during Shakespeare's great tragic period, Othello. In 1565 Giovanni Cinzio wrote a tale that relates to the deception of a Moorish general ensign into considering that his wife has been dishonest. Shakespeare most likely used this as a backbone to the creation of Othello by complicating the plot with more characters. Othello has been performed ever since it was first performance by the King's Men at the court of King James I during 1604.
This collection of critical interpretations has been produced to clarify and discuss the numerous interpretations available. Analysis of Othello differ from person to person however there are two main readings that have been accepted into society of the twentieth century. First of all, there is the Aristotelian tragedy, where generally some type of hamartia (tragic flaw) undermines the protagonist resulting in an unhappy ending; secondly is the feminist reading, where the focus is placed onto the women and how they are perceived within the play. These two critical interpretations are among the most popular and will be discussed briefly within this introduction; however, other readings are discussed throughout this collection.
Integrated into this collection is Claudia Sander's essay The tragic Othello' which analyses Othello from the Aristotelian tragedy conception. Aristotle defined tragedy as "the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself- in a dramatised fashion that empathises the audience into either pity or fear for the hero' of story.
Throughout the whole book Iago is jealous. ... Othello doesn't show his jealousy until the middle of the book. ... Othello's jealousy is vague throughout the book and most times is turned into anger. ... Every event in the book is the result of jealousy. Which is why jealousy is the main theme in the book. ...
Heilman centers his argument on how critics have long called Othello's personality "simple," when it really is complex. He uses the murder scene in great context of Othello's personality. ... "(7) These are all the major reasons for Othello's anxiety about his blackness which lead to his downfall. According to Bradley, Othello is the "most painfully exciting and the most terrible" play of Shakespeare's. ... "(2) which led to Othello murdering his wife. ...
Was Othello a Good Man? In the play "Othello" by William Shakespeare, Othello had both some positive aspects and some negative aspects about him. ... Othello trusted Iago, an ensign to Othello. ... Othello's flaw was his trusting nature. ... One of Othello's negative aspects was that of jealousy. ...
The character of Othello plays the role of both the protagonist and the hero in the play of Othello. ... We see Othello regain composure during his speech in Act 5. ... Othello easily fits this definition as he is the General of Venice. ... In Act I, Scene Two, Othello and Brabantio have a brawl, yet we see Othello remain calm and collected in reaction to Brabantio's speech. ... This line displays the astonishing power of Othello's words. ...
Othello starts the play on top of the world. ... Othello is proved to be an extremely gullible person, as Iago never offers Othello legitimate proof of the affair. ... In the last few acts of Othello, the evil side of Othello's character is finally unleashed. ... Did the pressures of society get into Othello's head? Or was Othello really just good on the outside? ...
An example of illogical reasoning and thinking is present in William Shakespeare's play, Othello, where Iago, who is Othello's most trusted advisor, plans and acts out his revenge on Othello, who is the good and noble general, because he is jealous over a promotion he did not get. ... A situation where Othello commits this error in reasoning is when he demands Desdemona to give him his handkerchief: OTHELLO. ... OTHELLO. ... Othello then uses the fallacy of automatic rejection again by ignoring Desdemona when she implores him to explain why he thinks she is unfaithful: OTHELLO. ... ...
This is set up in Othello by long monologues by Othello's antagonist outlining his evil plan to ruin Othello. ... Othello's tragic flaw comes out first when the evil antagonist Iago says he will frame as lovers Othello's wife and Cassius, whom Othello has just stripped of lieutenant. ... Ironically, around Othello, Iago seems to do the opposite- for example, Iago tells Othello, "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!... Iago points out to Othello every time his wife and Cassius have a conversation, and provokes Othello's wife to plead the issue of Othello stripping Cassius of ...
He has hatred towards Othello for giving Cassio the lieutenant title instead of him, so he plots revenge to get back at Othello. ... Hamartia is a fatal flaw that leads Othello to his downfall. In this play, Othello's hamartia is jealousy. ... Another characteristic that Othello checks off is that he is blind to reality. ... Since Othello an Iago are watching from afar but are not able to hear what they are saying, he gives Othello the idea that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. ...
Othello trusts in Desdemona until the third scene of the third act when Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona could be messing around with another man, Cassio. ... After saying these words, Othello takes his own life. ... How one, Desdemona, can be so pure and innocent that when Othello is lied to by the devil, Iago, Othello could find infidelity and dishonesty in her. Othello truly exemplifies the fault and free will in man. ... Othello is man....
