Othello - critics, mock specific

Neely - Emilia

‘Emilia acts accordingly to wifely virtues of silence, obedience and prudence’

Bradley - Emilia

‘She nowhere shows a sign of having a bad heart … her stupidity in this matter is gross’

Newman - handkerchief

‘Possession of a woman’s handkerchief was considered adultery’

Wain - love and Iago

‘assassination of love by non - love’

Bunten - Bianca

‘Bianca reflects the paradox of Venetian sexual morality’

Simpson - outsiders

‘Bianca, like Othello and Cassio, is an outsider’

Wain - Cyprus

‘Cyprus has a Garrison - town atmosphere’

Coleridge - Othello killing Desdemona

‘Othello did not kill Desdemona in jealousy, it was forced upon him by the superhuman art of Iago’

A. C. Bradley - Othello killing Desdemona

‘driven out of wits by the demon like cunning of Iago’

O’Toole - Iago

‘Iago is the machiavellian villain’

F R Leavis - weakness

Iago simply exploits a weakness that already existed in Othello’s character

Wain - Othello’s love

‘Othello does not see Desdemona as a real girl but as something magical that has happened to him’

Me - Iago and conflict

‘Iago is central to all of the conflict in the play due to his Machiavellian manipulation’

Coleridge

‘Motiveless Malignity’

A. C. Bradley - jealousy

(he is so susceptible to jealousy) ‘by nature full of vehement passion’

A. C. Bradley - Othello

‘by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare’s heroes’

Bradley - Cassio

‘There is something very loveable about Cassio’

‘We trust him absolutely’

The Madonna/Whore complex

Women divided into Madonnas and whores resulting in men simultaneously wanting sexual partners who have lost their dignity and romantic partners whom they cannot sexualise.