Othello critics

A critic that talks about romance

Boose - "Desdemona falls in love with romance itself"

How could you expand on this critic? ( 1ST CRITIC ABOUT LOVE)

Disagree - falls in love with loyalty, or genuinely Othello, or his exotic stories

A critic that talks about women's tragic ending

Adamson - "They are killed, emotionally and physically, because they are willing to love"

How could you expand on this critic? (CRITIC ON WOMENS TRAGIC ENDING)

Expand - it's not because they are willing to love, its because they are willing to have UNCONFORMIST love. (Desdemona with a black man, Emelia with female solidarity)

A critic that talks about Desdemona VS Iago

M. Simpson - "Othello allows Iago to replace Desdemona in his esteem and affection, and as his confidant and soulmate"

How could you expand on this critic? (OTHELLO VS DESDEMONDA)

Expand - context of morality plays with the angel and the devil. In the peripeteia (reversal of fortunes) Othello chooses Iago over Desdemona in the mock wedding

A critic that talks about Othello and Iago's insecurity

Honigmann - "Othello and Iago suffer from the same disease"

How could you expand on this critic? (othello and iago being same)

Disagree - Othello is actually a victim of systematic racism. Also, arguably we're not supposed to feel pathos for Iago

A critic that talks about what was Iago's downfall

Honigmann - "Emelia's love of Desdemona is Iago's undoing"

How could you expand on this critic? (Iagos downfall)

Qualify - Emelia's love is only the short-term catalyst for his downfall. The long-term downfall was his jealousy

A critic that talks about Desdemona as a woman

Jardine - "Desdemona becomes a stereotype of female passivity"

How could you expand on this critic? (2 options)(about desdemona)

Expand - she starts active but ends passive (e.g. going to bed on Othello's instruction)

Or Disagree - she is loyal not passive

A critic that talks about race

Loobma - "Othello is a victim of racial beliefs, precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynistic ones"

How could you expand on this critic? (critic that talks about race)

Qualify - He is always a victim of racial beliefs. He becomes a victim of INTERNALISED racism when he starts being misogynistic

A critic that talks about Iago as evil

Coleridge - "motiveless malignity"

How could you expand on this critic? (about iagos evil)

Disagree - use the following critic that try to identify a motive

A critic that talks about Iago as motivated by homosexual desire

Vangh - Iago has a "repressed sexual desire for Othello that is completely unrequited"

How could you expand on this critic? (about iagos sexuality)

Agree - use evidence of the dream scene and link to the idea of Iago being an other and insecure

A critic that talks about how Iago exploits Othello

Leavis - "Iago simply exploits a weakness that already existed in Othello's character"

How could you expand on this critic? (about iago exploiting)

Disagree - Iago exploits Othello's circumstances as a black man rather than a weakness in his character

A critic that talks about the tragic ending

Leavis - "There is no tragic self-discovery"

How could you expand on this critic? (2 options) (no tragic self discovery)

Disagree - "Fool, fool, fool!" - feels bad and has learnt.

Agree and expand - he is performing conformity to the tragic form and the expectations of him as a black man, rather than feeling real remorse. Melodrama falling onto bed. Perhaps Shakespeare doesn't want us to feel pathos for him