Othello Quotes

Othello Quotes

1. Edward Berry - Othello's Alienation

   • Shakespeare's protagonist is not only richly complicated but individualised and set apart from Venetian society in almost every respect - in his blackness, his past, his bearing, and, above all, his language, with its unusual rhythms, grandeur and exoticism'
   • neither his character nor the cause of the tragedy can be reduced to some innate savage impulse
     • Othello is neither Everyman nor an inhuman savage
   • Othello's "Africanness" is crucial to his tragedy not because of what he is, innately or culturally, but because of how he is perceived, by others and by himself
   • He is either assimilated into Europe or expelled from humanity
     • His failure to break free of this constructing framework, to achieve a true sense of personal identity
   • Othellos blackness is not only a mark of his physical alienation but a symbol, to which every character in the play, himself included, must respond
   • Othello is bllack, and his blackness connotes ugliness, treachery, lust, beastiality and the demonic. This poisonous image of the black man
   • Othello never defends his blackness
   • In his...defense before the Duke, Othello is rhetorically manipulative
   • Othello attempts to shape an image of himself that will win acceptance in Venice
     • the anxiety of the convert ,[to Christianity] who struggles to see himself as a member of the community from which he has been alienated
   • In the murder scene, what Othello tries to kill is thus in some sense his own blackness
   • Othello's alienation, then, is central to the play
   • Othello dies in a story he tells, but it is framed by assumptions that deny him an authentic self

2. A.C. Bradley

   • 'in regard to the essentials of his character' Othello's race is unimportant

3. Albert Gerard

   • Othello is in, actual fact, what Iago say he is, a barbarian

4. Laurence Lerner

   • Othello is 'the story of a barbarian who relapses

5. Martin Orkin - Othello and the "plain face" of Racism

   • 'racist sentiment within the play,,,is to an important degree confined to Iago, Roderigo and Brabantio'
   • 'The Venetian court ignores the racism implicit or explicit in Brabantio's remarks; they have, after all, elected Othello general and he is...consider[ed] "all in all sufficient"

6. K.W. Evans - The Racial Factor in Othello

   • '...no analysis of the play can be adequate if it ignores the factor of race'

7. Phyllis Natalie Braxton - Othello: The Moor and the Metaphor

   • 'the playwright seems to have avoided assigning to Othello a specific geographical origin or ethnic background'
   • 'Nothing in the text...suggests that Shakespeare was concerned with depicting Othello exclusively as an African'
   • 'those Africans who would have provided what Jones terms the greatest 'dramatic contrast' with Europeans'
   • 'Cultural details in Shakespeare's portrait of Othello are as ambiguous as are details about the character's background'
   • 'Thomas Rymer in A Short View of Tragedy [says] that 'our noble Venetian['s]...words flow in abundance'
   • 'G.B. Harrison, in Shakespeare: The Complete Works, considers that Othello 'has some characteristics of the savage [including] a hyperbolic utterance when aroused'
   • '[Concerning the question of why Othello has to be black] Long accustomed to having black heroes belittled by the dominant culture'
   • 'the Other is always mysterious and without clear definition. Once defined he is no longer the Other'
   • 'Despite his physical identification as the Other, his interaction with the native Venetians (other than Iago) would discourage an interpretation of him as the Other in the sense of an outsider who is totally alienated from the community'
   • 'Othello's sonorous and repetitive speech has [a] droning quality'

8. Virginia Mason Vaughan - Othello: A Contextual History

   • 'Shakespeare exploits a discourse of racial difference that by 1604 had become ingrained in the English psyche'

9. Virginia Mason Vaughan - Othello: A Contextual History

   • 'Shakespeare exploits a discourse of racial difference that by 1604 had become ingrained in the English psyche'
   • 'Shakespeare shows that the union of a white Venetian maiden and a black Moorish general is...emphatically unnantural'
   • 'Othello bears the visual sign of his Otherness, a difference that the play's language insists can never be eradicated'
   • 'Despite Venice's need for Othello's military acumen, the Venetian outlook in Shakespeare's play is predominantly racist'
   • 'Othello argues eloquently'
   • 'the discourse of racial difference is inescapably embedded in the play'

10. RHETORIC

    • ed berry - his language with its unusual rhythms, grandeur, individualises him sets him apart
    • ed berry - rhetorically manipulative before the Duke
    • thomas rymer in phyllis natalie baxton - our noble venetian{s} words flow in abundance
    • phyllis natalie baxton - othellos sonorous and repetitive speech has droning quality
    • g.b. harrison in phyllis natalie baxton - othello has some characteristics of the savage [including[ a hyperbolic utterance
    • virignia vaughan - othello argues eloquently

11. DISCOURSE

    • ed berry - othello africannes crucial to his tragedy, because of how he is perceived by others and by himself
    • ed berry - blackess is a symbol by which every character must respond
    • jones in phyllis baxton - othello symbolises the greatest 'dramatic contrast' wight he Europeans
    • k.w. evans - no analysis of the play can be adequate if it ignores the factor of race
    • virignia vaughan - the venetian outlook in shakespeares play is predominantly racist
    • virignia vaughan - the discourse of racial difference is inescapably embedded in the play
    • virginia vaughan - the union of a white venetian madden and a black morrish general is emphatically unnatural
    • virgina vaughan - shakespeare exploits a discourse of racial difference that by 1604 had become ingrained in the english psyche

12. ASSIMILATE

    • ed berry - lacks an authentic self
    • ed berry - othellos alienation central to the play
    • ed berry - true sense of personal identity failures to break free from constructing framework (framework is discourse)
    • ed berry - either assimilated into europe or expelled from humanity (even more so because he has no background identity, he fundamentally cannot represent a hybrid individual therefore)
    • ed berry - tries to shape his identity that will be accepted in Venice (link to rhetoric as he plays down his ability)
    • virignia vaughan - othello bears the visual signs of his otherness, a difference that,,,can never be eradicated