Smart Interpretations

• Is Othello Stupid?

  • Has facility (stuff he uses) with words but perhaps NOT AS smart
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • Talks a lot but is NOT a thinker
  • Only thinks about himself and his reputation
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • IF his tragic flaw is jealousy, he carries it around like a crutch (just waiting for Iago to kick it away from under him)
  • TRAGIC HERO'S FALL
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • Manipulated by Iago
  • A man he couldn't trust in to be second in command, without checking the facts
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • Suspects his wife is having an affair BUT fails to confront her and ask her about her SUSPOSED INFIDELITY
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • He doesn't even question her alleged lover Cassio
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • He is driven demented by a handkerchief
• Is Othello Stupid?

  • He is not Tragic, he is PATHETIC
• No Othello Without Iago?

  • Iago is the one who draws out Othello's inner fears
• No Othello Without Iago?

  • If there is no IAGO, there is no OTHELLO
• No Othello Without Iago?

  • Everything we see of him emanates from Iago.
  • The rest of the play is his hinterland
• No Othello Without Iago?

  • "Othello's tragedy and Iago's play" (Bloom)
  • BUT this is Othello's tragedy meaning it is also Iago's tragedy
  • BOTH have sexual insecurities
  • Iago has incel traits
• No Othello Without Iago?

  • Iago is the protagonist
  • He has great soliloquies
  • More lines than Othello
  • Most active character
• No Othello Without Iago?

  • Othello is passive
  • Suffers (Act 2-5)
  • Kills himself (Act 5)
  • Doesn't fight Turks, a storm did it for him
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • He is not a king, prince or ruler
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • His tragedy is domestic
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Personal tragedy does NOT involve the destroying of a country or the universe.
  • Its a tragedy between husband and wife stuff
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • He is a servant of the state = important but still a servant
  • "I HAVE DONE THE STATE SOME SERVICE"
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • There are no actual battles, just ones in the past that never materialise
  • Othello is hollow
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • The only battle is inside his head
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • High rank in the Venetian army BUT he does not have agency (of a Hamlet or a Macbeth)
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Othello is an ordinary man
  • Unusual in Shakespeare's tragic canon (order)
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Foreign royalty = different to those around him
  • Mysterious (embedded in the origins of the handkerchief)
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Beginning he is NOBEL
  • Measured = Control
  • Dignified = Well-mannered
  • Commanding = Authoritative
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Status is elevated by his Othello Music
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Acts differently to venetians, not a dominant patriarchal figure.
  • He respects his wife
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Gives his wife a voice (in the Senate)
  • "LET HER SPEAK"
  • Lets her speak in the Catholic patriarchy
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Like every tragic hero HE FALLS and he FALLS HARD
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • No longer noble or articulate - speaks obscenely and incoherently
• Othello Is Not a Classical hero?

  • Brainwashed by the puppet of Iago
• Othello - A Very Personal Tragedy

  • Othello is not a king, the whole world is not involved with his tragedy
• Othello - A Very Personal Tragedy

  • Othello's tragedy is that of a victim
• Othello - A Very Personal Tragedy

  • It is not the tragedy of an active controller of a country
  • The end does not restore political and social order as it has not been destroyed
• Othello - A Very Personal Tragedy

  • Order is restored to a military matter and a mistake of marriage
• Shakespeare's Choice of Setting

  Venice

  • English of the time
  • Represents 'new money' and unscrupulous
• Shakespeare's Choice of Setting


  England

  • Well established
  • Venice = new and upcoming which ties to Europe but is still on the edge of war with Islamic Outsiders.
  • Racial Tension in the play
• Venice

  • Reputation of...
  • ...Unbridled passions and exotic vices
  • ...'Political deception about loose women'
• Venice

  • Perfect location for a story about sex and race
• Racism

  • England in 1600s did not have multi-cultural population
• Racism

  • Queen Elizabeth = 'discontented at a great number of blackamoors that has crept into realm'