Othello Critic Quotes

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Othello:

“Othello self-destructively internalizes the prevailing racism, while Desdemona … remains an idealized, virtuous woman- keeping alive the image of a besieged white femininity so crucial to the production of the black man as a ‘savage’.” — Jyotsna Singh, 2004

“the thing that sets him apart is his solitariness. He is a stranger, a man of alien race, without ties of nature or natural duties.” — Helen Gardner, 1955

“a habit of self-approving, self-dramatisation is an essential element in Othello’s make-up, and remains so at the very end. It is, at best, the impressive manifestation of a noble egotism.” — F.R. Leavis, 1952

"Othello states he is not easily jealous - it is the most appalling bit of self-deception." — Kenneth Tyan

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

“The deed he is bound to do is not murder, but a sacrifice. He is to save Desdemona from herself, not in hate but in honour; in honour, and also in love” — A.C. Bradley

”In loving and marrying each other, Othello and Desdemona instinctively act according to principles of racial equality and sexual freedom which are still not normative, still far from generally accepted and practised even in our own day, let alone in Shakespeares’.” — Kiernan Ryan, 1989

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Desdemona:

“She is a prize, a spoil of war” — Caryl Phillips

“Desdemona becomes a stereotype of female passivity” — Lisa Jardine

“Desdemona is killed not only by Othello and Iago but also by all those who see her humiliated and beaten in public and fail to intervene” — Ruth Vanita

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Emilia:

“She dies in the service of truth” — Matt Simpson

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Iago:

“[Iago is] A being next to the Devil … only not quite the Devil … motiveless, malignant, devil-like creature!” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

”[The audience] do not go home hoping they will never meet an Iago, but rather understanding something of the nature of evil and how soon bright things come to confusion … Iago is still serviceable to us, as an objective correlative of the mindless inventiveness of racial aggression.” — Germaine Greer, 1986