CRITICAL VIEWS ON THE PLAY

Thomas Rhymer on Othello as a character (1600s)

he was outraged by the idea of a black hero

Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Iago as a character (1800s)

saw Iago as driven by ‘motiveless malignity’ and ‘a being next to the devil’

A C Bradley on Othello as a character (1900s)

saw Othello as blameless and his jealousy as credible, felt ‘admiration and love’ at the end of the play

F R Leavis on Othello as a character

saw Othello as to blame for his own downfall, saw him as a weak character with no love for Desdemona

Lisa Jardine on female characters (feminism)

there is only a male viewpoint to offer, female characters have limited power

Frances Dolan on Othello as a character (new historicism)

saw Othello as losing authority because of his ‘otherness’

Ania Loomba on Othello as a play (post-colonial)

saw the central conflict as being between the white patriarchy and the threat posed to it by a woman and a black man