geneeral croitical quotes

Othello

"…black-skinned people were usually typed as godless, bestial, and hideous…" – Virginia Mason Vaughan

"Othello has, in effect, defined himself as an Elizabethan traveller…" – Andrew Hadfield"

The dominant quality in this play is the exquisitely moulded language…" – G. Wilson Knight

"Othello is, in one sense… the most romantic figure among Shakespeare’s heroes…" – A.C. Bradley

"There is something mysterious in his descent from men of royal siege…" – A.C. Bradley

Venice / Society

"The English saw Venice not simply as a place for female deviance…" – Ania Loomba

Venice / Society "Venetian civility has been built by letting in the very foreigners who now threaten to undermine it…" – Ania Loomba

Venice / Society "Brabantio’s choice of words is ironic, for Iago tells him… ‘black ram’… ‘Barbary horse’…" – Ania Loomba

Iago

"The motive-hunting of motiveless malignity—how awful!" – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Iago… is not simply a man of action; he is an artist. His action is a plot…" – A.C. Bradley

"His creed… is that absolute egoism is the only rational and proper attitude…" – A.C. Bradley

Tragedy

"Shakespeare was not attempting to justify the ways of God to men…" – A.C. Bradley

"We remain confronted with… a world travelling for perfection, but bringing to birth… evil…" – A.C. Bradley

Race / Stereotype

"Both blacks and Muslims were regarded as given to unnatural sexual and domestic practices…" – Ania Loomba

"Othello yokes together… a black Moor who has both a slave past and a noble lineage…" – Ania Loomba

Leo Afrocanous ‘subject to jealousie’

Othello’s Language

"Othello’s speech… the regular rise and fall of his voice… the noble cadence…" – A.C. Bradley

"It has a certain exotic beauty… a storied and romantic treasure-house…" – G. Wilson Knight