my othello scholarship

what did coleridge say about the effect of desdemona's potential infidelity?

"the belief that she, his angel, had fallen from the heaven of her native innocence, wrought a civil war in her heart. she is his counterpart... sanctified... by absolute unsuspiciousness"

what does marylin french say about desdemona?

she "accepts her culture's dictum that she must be obedient to males" and is "self-denying in the extreme" when she dies

what did tennehouse say that desdemona is because of her marital choice and loyalty to her own righteousness?

she is the "strongest, most heroic person in the play"

what did tennehous say about desdemona's death/ smothering?

Desdemona's death is an "example of silencing the rebellious female voice". Tragedies in this area often use violence against women who challenged the patriarchy. The women in these plays continue to 'demand' their own deaths or blame themselves for their murder.

what did coleridge describe iago as?

"motiveless malignity"

what did karen newman say about othello's race?

"iago's manipulation of othello depends on the moor's own prejudices against his blackness"

what did bainbridge say about women?

'The portrayal of women in Othello, and generally speaking Shakespeare's tragedies on a whole, is that of passive victims, or deceivers of men'

what did phillips say about othello's love for desdemona?

"the love of possession. she is a prize, a spoil of war"

what does ania loomba argue about othello's split identity?

-othello has a split identity which makes his existence contradictory: "he becomes simultaneously the christian and the infidel, the venitian and the turk, the keeper of the state and its opponent"

Alan Sinfield- Othello and the 'other'

"othello kills himself because he has been conditioned to defend society against the 'other' he has become"

what did aristotle argue about tragic plays?

"tragic victims have to be purely innocent and unaware of events. they have to be a victim as a result of the hero's hamartia"

"A man does not become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall"

what does feminist theory argue about iago

he epitomises patriarchal dominance

what did cox say about female characters?

they are forced to "divide into virgins and saints or whores and devils", percieved in the extreme, either angelic or devilish, stems from the fall of eve

what does marylin french say about emilia?

"one of the effects of emilia's speeches is to counter the male attitudes of females in the play"

what does adamson say about iago's role?

"iago is more of a catalyst that precipates destruction than a devil who causes it"

what does thomas say is emilia's role?

"Emilia is the foil for Desdemona and corrects Desdemona's occasional naivete"

She steals the hanky due to "wifely virtues silence, obedience and prudence".

what did t.s elliot argue?

that "iago simply exploits a weakness that already existed in othello's character" and that "othello is responsible for his own downfall"