Edexcel English Literature: Othello - Critical Interpretations

"The Pleasure of Tragedy" - A D Nuttall

"driven by envy were to delight in the fall of one greater than they"

"The Pleasure of Tragedy" - A D Nuttall

"value the disturbing, the jagged, the painful work"

"The Pleasure of Tragedy" - A D Nuttall

"grief and fear become in their turn matter for enjoyment"

"The Shakespearean Tragic Hero" - A C Bradley

"It is only in the love-tragedies, Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra, that the heroine is as much the centre of the action as the hero"

"The Shakespearean Tragic Hero" - A C Bradley

"essentially a tale of suffering and calamity concluding to death"

"Othello: the portrayal of Iago" - E A J Honigmann

"much to be said on both sides"

"Othello: the portrayal of Iago" - E A J Honigmann

"sympathising with a villain"

"Othello: the portrayal of Iago" - E A J Honigmann

"he enjoys a godlike sense of power"

"Othello: the portrayal of Iago" - E A J Honigmann

"Auden's loose label really identities one of Iago's convenient masks [...] his humour."

"Othello: the portrayal of Iago" - E A J Honigmann

"Iago's essential sadism"

"The Character of Othello" - F R Leavis

"Othello's self-dramatisation"

"The Character of Othello" - F R Leavis

"tragedy doesn't involve the idea of the hero's learning through suffering"

"The Character of Othello" - F R Leavis

"noble Othello [...] tragically pathetic"

"The Character of Othello" - F R Leavis

"he should die acting his ideal part"

"The Character of Othello" - F R Leavis

"Othello tends to sentimentalise"

"The Character of Othello" - F R Leavis

"simplicity is tragic and grand"

"Tragedy and Madness" - Maynard Mack

"Madness [...] allowed the combination in a single figure of tragic hero and buffoon"

"Tragedy and Madness" - Maynard Mack

"Madness is to some degree a punishment or doom [...], further dimension, as insight."

"Tragedy and Madness" - Maynard Mack

"you must acknowledge the opposing voice"

"Othello, Race and Society" - Ania Loomba

"Necessary fragility of an 'unnatural' relationship between a young, white, well-born woman and an older black soldier"

"Othello, Race and Society" - Ania Loomba

Blacks and Muslims were associated with "unnatural sexual and domestic practices [...] outside the Christian fold."

"Othello, Race and Society" - Ania Loomba

"tension between the state and the family"