Shakespeare's Legacy

• William Shakespeare and his Legacy

  Othello continues to be one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies.
• Cinthio

  • The story of Othello is in essence, an adaptation of an earlier narrative (written in 1565) by the Italian writer Giraldi Cinthio (1504-75) which Shakespeare would have read in either French or Italian.
  • Interest in such tales did not come from any sense of originality (the story would be well known anyway) but what was of interest was how the playwright re-told it.
• Subversive

  • We sometimes conceive of Shakespeare as representing ‘order’ and that, because he has high cultural status in our society, he is somehow ‘conservative’.
  • In fact, Othello shows that Shakespeare is, at times, quite ‘subversive’ in many respects.
• Collision of orders

  • His plays are often places for ‘collisions’ and for ‘debate’ between the old Medieval order and the emergent new Modern order.
• Determinants

  • Plays such as Othello are subject to economic, political, social and religious determinants.
• Power

  • A tragedy such as Othello also shows the operation of power in society by revealing how the stories and displays of those in authority convince those without power of their superiors’ rights to rule and control.
• Gender politics

  • The tragedy also reveals the ideological means through which men have power, which at this time, still ensured dominance over women.
  • Women were, however, starting to contest this power.