summaries

• Kastan:

  • Tragedy is ‘universal’ and ‘inexplicable’. 
  • Does ‘human error’ or ‘fate’ cause tragedy. 
  • ‘uncertainty is the point’ of tragedy.
• Honigmann:

  • Iago is a ‘liar, betrayer, mental torturer and murderer’. 
  • His ‘ambition, spirit and intellectual activity’ leave audiences torn in their feelings towards him. 
  • He is the play’s ‘chief humorist’ and has the most lines. 
  • He ‘confides in us’ making the audience the ‘villain’s accomplices’. 
  • Iago has ‘essential sadism’ with it ‘scarcely mattering who kills whom’ as it all fulfills his plot eventually. 
  • He doesn’t understand ‘loyalty’ and ‘friendship’ despite his ‘cleverness’ so can’t comprehend Emilia’s betrayal of his plot. 
• Leavis:

  • When Othello kills Desdemona, he lacks ‘tragic self-discovery'. 
  • Othello moves from ‘noble’ to ‘pathetic’ as he doesn’t own up to his mistakes.  
  • He has a ‘simple nature’ that leaves him sympathetic to his own ‘pathos’. 
• Loomba:

  • Othello has a predisposition to the ‘inherent duplicity of women’ which contributes to feelings of the ‘fragility’ in his ‘unnatural relationship’ with Desdemona. 
  • He becomes an ‘agent of misogynist beliefs’ as Iago manipulates him. 
  • Stereotypes of Muslim men as ‘highly emotional’ and ‘prone to anger and jealousy’ show Shakespeare uniting Othello with traditional societal views.  
• Loomba:

  • His ‘propensity to violence’ towards Desdemona means audiences perceive him as the villain.  
  • Racial beliefs in Jacobean society are exploited as Othello is portrayed as ‘godless and bestial’. 
  • Questions whether Shakespeare advocates for a ‘tolerant society’ or warns against ‘open societies who let in outsiders’. 
• Bradley:

  • Tragedy often leads to the ‘death of the hero’ and it should focus on the ‘suffering and calamity’ that leads to this death e.g. Iago’s plot.  
  • Shakespeare makes Othello the ‘chief source of tragic emotions’ as he falls from his ‘high degree’.  
  • Othello is different to other tragedies as he isn’t a ‘private person’ and justifies the ‘service’ he did before deciding to ‘live no longer’. 
• Mack:

  • Shakespeare often depicts tragic heroes as ‘buffoons’ alongside their heroism.  
  • The multi-faceted characters confuse the audiences of characters’ true nature.  
  • Their insanity is often dismissed as ‘fiction’ by other characters but is key to their downfall.