OTHELLO AO5

Page 1

A.C. BRADLEY

THOUGHS ON OTHELLO

He views Othello with sympathy

he argues that the 'beast in man' that the Venetians assert to be in Othello's primitive nature, is only revealed in the latter half of the play.

It is only revealed due to his propensity for the jealous thought which unleashes his primal behaviours.

He believes that Othello is noble and great

His downfall is due to his trust in Iago

THOUGHTS ON IAGO

Iago is a near-perfect embodiment of complete evil as found in any Shakespearean tragedy.

His evil intellect is dangerous

THOUGHTS ON DESDEMONA

Viewed with sympathy

Claims her death was one of the most tragic of all of Shakespeare's characters.

OTHER USEFUL QUOTES

... the reader's heart and mind are held in a vice, experiencing the extremes of pity and fear, sympathy and repulsion, sickening hope and dreadful expectation...

... [the play is an] assassination of love by non-love...

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F.R. LEAVIS

RESPONSE TO BRADLEY'S VIEW

He believes Bradley lacked a deep knowledge of the text and was 'extravagant in misdirected scrupulosity'. Be believes the truer issue is that Bradley over-sentimentalises the characters that he discusses.

Leavis has an issue in the way that Bradley oversimplified Othello's character to him being a great person and Leavis suggests that Shakespeare never intended Othello to be read as a completely trusting, naive individual.

The key difference in the critics is:

Bradley - views Othello as the central character, concluding that Iago only serves Shakespeare in relation to Othello

Leavis - places much greater emphasis on Iago, suggesting Othello is only a necessary character so that Iago's nature can be displayed upon him.

THOUGHTS ON OTHELLO

He is selfish and self-centred

Leavis believes that he never loved Desdemona as a person, he was only interested in the potential of any personal gain their relationship could bring.

He is his own undoing.

THOUGHTS ON IAGO

He categorises Iago's primary role as accelerating the plot of the play by exposing Othello to his own mind.

THOUGHTS ON DESDEMONA

He believes that her sole purpose is for the sake of Othello's moral plot.

Likewise to Bradley, he believes that the relationship between Desdemona and Othello had weak foundations.

It could be argued that Othello loves Desdemona for her status and stereotypical Venetian beauty, whilst Desdemona loves Othello for his tales of bravery.

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OTHELLO

O'Toole

... [Othello] takes shame and doubt and gives them visible substance...

... racism isn't just the context in which Othello lives... it is an integral part of him...

McEvoy

... contradictions within his ideology destroy him...

Hazlitt

... [Othello has a great] depth of passion...

Eliot

... [Othello's final speech is a terrible exposure of human weakness [full of] an attitude of self dramatisation...

Loomba

... Othello is a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynistic ones...

Godfrey

... [Othello is] possessed by the eclipsing madness of jealousy...

Knight

... the 'Iago medicine' is what destroys the 'Othello music'...

A.C. BRADLEY

... exceptionally noble and trustful...

... by far the most romantic figure of all Shakespeare's heroes...

... his trust where he trusts is absolute...

F.R. LEAVIS

... Othello is too stupid to be a tragic hero...

... [His] love may be love, but it can only be in an oddly qualified sense love of her...

... Othello's trust... can never have been in Desdemona...

... a habit of self-approving, self-dramatisation is an essential element in Othello's make-up...

... [merely] necessary material and provocation for a display of Iago's fiendish intellectual superiority...

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IAGO

McElprang

... he does not even take a moment to consider the possible ramifications...

Swinburne

... [his evil is] fathomless and bottomless...

Godfrey

... [Iago is] the very voice of jealousy itself...

Coleridge

... [he has] motiveless malignity...

Knight

... the 'Iago medicine' is what destroys the 'Othello music'...

A.C. BRADLEY

... goodness therefore annoys him...

... a thoroughly bad, cold man...

... supremely wicked...

... Iago's intrigue occupies a place in the drama for which no parallel can be drawn...

F.R. LEAVIS

... Iago's prompt success is not so much Iago's diabolical intellect as Othello's readiness to respond...

... [He is a] necessary piece of a dramatic mechanism...

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DESDEMONA

Auden

... Everybody must pity Desdemona, but I cannot bring myself to like her...

French

... she must be obedient to males...

Jardine

... too knowing...

... too independent...

Tennenhouse

... the embodiment of power...

A.C. BRADLEY

... Desdemona is helplessly passive

F.R. LEAVIS

... a type outside his [Othello's] experience - the Venetian wife...

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OTHER CHARACTERS

EMILIA

Vanita

... Desdemona's only ally...

... a powerless wife like Desdemona herself...

Bayley

... [Emilia is the representation of] repressed femininity

BIANCA

Simpson

... Bianca is like Othello and Cassio, an outsider...

Bunten

... [she] reflects the paradox of Venetian sexual morality...

Bastin

... she's the only other character that gets jealous of her lover and her reaction... showcases... Othello's bloody deeds...

CASSIO

Bradley

... there is something lovable about Cassio...

Walker

... [he] remains determined to keep a good and wholesome reputation amongst the Venetian court...

Stallybrass

... mediating as an object of jealousy [between Othello and Desdemona]...

RODERIGO

Jamison

... [he is] prepared to do anything to get Desdemona...

Ridley

... comic relief...

... [he is] trying to swim in a sea too rough for him...

Honigmann

... activates poisonous impulses in Iago...