Othello Critics

What is Honigmann’s argument?

the reception of Iago provokes conflicting emotions as his comedic yet sinister portrayal divides our moral compass and thus perception of him

Honigmann: “if Iago were a straightforward villain…”

he would arouse little fellow feeling in audience

Honigmann: “he is the play’s…”

cheif humourist

Honigmann: “since his victims lack humour…”

Iago appeals to us as more amusing

Honigmann: “his humour makes him…”

seem cleverer than his victims

Honigmann: “Iago excells in…”

short-term tactics, not in long-term strategy

Honingmann: “despite his cleverness…”

he has neither felt nor understood the spiritual impulses that bind ordinary human beings together, loyalty, friendship, respect, compassion – in a word, love

Honingmann: “Emilia’s love (of Desdemona) is Iago’s"..”

undoing

what is Leavis’ argument?

Othello’s sufferings in the play are partly a consequence of his self-dramatisation, he refuses to learn from his sufferings preferring to focus on the ‘performance’

Leavis: “he has discovered his mistake but…”

there is no tragic self-discovery

Leavis: “he is ruined, but…”

he is the same Othello in whose essential make-up the tragedy lay: the tragedy doesn’t involve the idea of the hero’s learning through suffering

Leavis: Othello’s suicide “is a superb…”

coup de théâtre

What is Loomba’s argument?

Othello both reinforces and questions early modern stereotypes of black people and Muslims. Also Venice as a model and warning to England

Loomba: “Iago’s machinations are effective because…”

Othello is predisposed to believing his pronouncements about the inherent duplicity of women, and the necessary fragility of an ‘unnatural’ relationship between a young, white, well-born woman and an older black soldier

Loomba: “Othello is a victim of…”

racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynist ones

Loomba: “Venetian civility has been built by…”

letting in the very foreigners who now threaten to undermine it at a different level

Andrew Hatfield calls Venice a "…”

critical utopian space