Schools of Criticism

Othello Marxist criticism Post-Colonial Criticism Feminist Criticism

Critical Interpretations Knowledge Organiser (AO5)
Moving beyond “motiveless malignity” Summary: A Marxist critic Summary: post-colonial Summary: Feminist
criticism is a literary form
would be interested in the critics are interested in of criticism that gives the
how texts explore issues perspective of writing
Early Criticism Thomas Rymer (1693): disappointed because there is
no satisfactory moral ending, only “a warning to good
Dr Johnson (1765): believed Othello provided ‘a very
useful moral; not to make an unequal match’
political context of Othello of power, economics, through a feminist
housewives to look well to their linen” and power structure of the politics, religion, culture. perspective. It is a political
They are particularly form of literature that
19th Century views Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1813): Iago is ‘a being next to Swinburne: Othello must be seen as a truly noble hero, society in which Othello and analyzes the questions of
interested in how the
the devil’ driven by ‘motiveless malignity’. ‘the noblest man of man’s making.’ Iago operate. Marxist critics culture of the oppressed
how male and females
relate to each other and
also examine the (aka black people) is the world, the repression
Othello Desdemona Iago
relationships between portrayed in works of of women and how
women are portrayed in
A.C.Bradley (1905): Saw Othello as W.H. Auden (1962): Insisted that the Scragg (1968): Views Iago as a Machiavel. ‘an masters and their servants. literature. literature.
blameless; the audience feels ‘admiration audience pity Desdemona but they don’t amoral artist who seeks to fashion the world in his
and love’ for the hero at the end of the play. need to like her. own image.’
‘the most terrible of all Shakespeare’s Desdemona’s feelings are ‘the romantic
tragedies’ crush of a silly schoolgirl rather than a Germaine Greer:’We no longer feel, as
Emphasises ‘the powerlessness of man…his mature affection: it is Othello’s adventures Shakespeare’s contemporaries did, the ubiquity of Dympna Callaghan considers the cultural Ania Loomba: The central Deats: (2002)The play
downfall affects a whole nation.’ which captivate her rather than Othello as a Satan, but Iago is still serviceable to us, as an significance of Desdemona’s wedding sheets conflict in Othello is about the shows the damage the
person.’ objective correlative of the mindless inventiveness and the handkerchief, commenting on how mixed marriage. For Loomba, patriarchal system can
of racist aggression.  Iago is still alive and kicking
and filling migrants’ letterboxes with excrement.’ these objects had economic and symbolic women and blacks exist as ‘the cause. ‘abusive husbands
F.R.Leavis (1937): Disregards Bradley’s Imogen Stubbs: “Desdemona’s devotion to value in the Renaissance. Callaghan sees the other’ in this play. Loomba and battered wives’,
argument and believes Othello is responsible Othello is characterised by an enormous handkerchief as a ‘miniature of the nuptial suggests Othello is an honorary women as the innocent
William Empson (1951)“Everybody calls Iago
for his own downfall. His love for Desdemona naivety” honest once or twice, but with Othello it becomes linens’ and suggests it is crucially important white at the beginning of the party.
is ‘a matter of self-centred and self-regarding an obsession; at the crucial moment just before to the stability of the marriage of Othello play but becomes a ‘total
satisfactions.’ Gail Kern Paster “Desdemona’s fate in the Emilia exposes Iago he keeps howling the word and Desdemona. outsider’ because of his
Believes Othello is performing a role. bedroom scene is universal. We (women) out.” relationship with Desdemona.
  know our own vulnerability and we could all The play should be used to
be Desdemona” Sean McEvoy: “The audience becomes complicit in Lois Tyson argues that classism is an ‘examine and dismantle’ ideas French: In spite of her
Iago’s intention and, like it or not, is soon involved
ideology that equates one's value as a about racism and sexism. ‘a assertiveness in choosing
T S Eliot  (1932)“I have always felt that I in his vengeful plotting.  He actually asks them nightmare of racial hatred and
have never read a more terrible exposure of  what he should do” human being with the social class to which her own husband, French
one belongs. “From a classist perspective, male violence.’ suggests Desdemona
human weakness – of universal human
weakness – than the last great speech of people at the top of the social scale are ‘accepts her culture’s
Germaine Greer: “Desdemona shouldn’t  Neville Coghill ‘Psychologically Iago is a slighted naturally superior to those below them.” dictum that she must be
Othello.”   have given in to her fascination for Othello. man, powerfully possessed by hatred against a Brabantio, Desdemona, Cassio and Roderigo obedient to males’ and is
Not because she can’t deal with it, but due master who (as he thinks) has kept him down, and
by envy for a man he despises who has been are seen as members of the upper, ruling ‘self-denying in the
to her knowledge that he couldn’t” class, while Iago is part of the lower, working Karen Newman: the play extreme’ when she dies.
promoted over him.’
class: exposes the ‘fear of racial and
Traditionally, the educated class would sexual difference’ of
understand struggle in terms of upholding Renaissance culture.
right against wrong, or as a moral and The white male characters in
spiritual struggle between the forces of good Othello , especially Iago, feel Jardine: Stage world of
Sentence starters and evil  threatened. Newman suggests Othello is wholly
However, the economically deprived are ‘by making the black Othello a masculine and argues that
(critic) …, a view supported by… (critic) disagreed, suggesting Contrastingly, (critic) hero, and by making there is only a male
more likely to interpret struggle as the fight Desdemona’s love for Othello
argues/suggests/implies instead... presented the argument… to survive and gain ‘a share of the pie’ i.e. in … sympathetic’, Shakespeare’s viewpoint on offer.
material terms. play challenges the racist, sexist Desdemona proves to be
(critic)’s argument is This interpretation provokes This view can be exemplified However, (critic) and colonialist views of his ‘too-knowing, too-
persuasive, suggesting.. the argument… in Act I… neglects/fails to address… society. independent’ and
therefore she is punished
by patriarchy.
(critic) raises the problem (critic) engages with the One way of exploring this (critic) oversimplifies,
of… disconcerting issue of… problem is… suggesting…
 Othello as a tragedy
David Kastan (2003) Shakespeare’s tragedies are intense treatments of age-old questions about whether the causes of suffering lie in human weakness, divine retribution, or arbitrary fate. He asserts that the
absence of clear answers to these questions is central to Shakespearean tragedy. Tragedy is “the genre of uncompensated suffering”
A. D. Nuttall (1996): considers the tension between pleasure and pain in tragic drama. Early critical responses to tragedy considered audience pleasure in relation to the pain they were witnessing on stage.
Contemporary reviewers more commonly praise the playwright’s ability to disturb the emotions of the audience and render them uncomfortable.
A. C. Bradley (1904) argues that Shakespearean tragedy necessarily centres on a character of high rank and exceptional qualities who undergoes a reversal of fortune that leads to his own death and to a more
general calamity. “Othello himself is no mere private person; he is the General of the Republic” “The consciousness of his high position never leaves him.” “his fall produces a sense of contrast, of the
powerlessness of man, and of the omnipotence – perhaps the caprice – of Fortune or Fate, which no tale of private life can possibly rival”

Directors’ and actors’ interpretations Level Marks Descriptor

“Othello’s love for Desdemona is a powerful, all- “Iago is so fascinating primarily because “All Shakespeare’s characters love
consuming emotion. It’s unlikely he’s ever felt he is so successful” Sir Ian McKellen talking. Iago’s final refusal to speak Level 1-2 Descriptive
anything like it before” David Harewood, first (played Iago, 1989) is an extraordinary act of evil” Sir 1 Shows limited awareness of different interpretations
black actor to play Othello at the NT (1997) Ian McKellen (played Iago, 1989) and alternative readings of texts. Limited linking of
different interpretations to own response.
“The play works best when the audience is pulled “The actor is forced to dig into “Othello is in agony. To obliterate
into a sense of solidarity with the title themselves and find the deep the reason for that agony is to
character...if we understand all his vulnerabilities insecurity that comes from someone relieve the pain that he is suffering Level 3-5 General exploration Offers straightforward
then we have a successful play” Nicholas Hytner who is so afraid of being hurt” Adrian from” Patrick Stewart (played 2 explanations of different interpretations and
(directed Othello, NT, 2013) Lester (played Othello, NT, 2013) Othello as a white man in an all alternative readings of texts. Some support of own
black cast, 1997) ideas given with reference to generic different
interpretations.

Significant Productions Level 6-8 Clear relevant exploration Offers clear understanding
3 of different interpretations and alternative readings
1604 production Richard Burbage played the title role in blackface of texts. Explores different interpretations in support
or contrast to own argument.
1660 production After the Restoration and the re-opening of the theatres, Margaret Hughes became the first
recorded woman to perform on the English stage, when she played Desdemona on 8 Level 9-11 Discriminating exploration Produces a developed
December 1660. 4 exploration of different interpretations and
alternative readings of texts. Discussion is controlled
1830 production Ira Aldridge is the first black actor to play Othello, touring Europe to great acclaim. and offers integrated exploration of different
interpretations in development of own critical
position.
Film, 1965, dir. Stuart Burge Laurence Olivier controversially plays Othello in blackface.

National Theatre, 2013, dir. Production set in a contemporary military camp, starring Adrian Lester as Othello and Rory Level 12-14 Critical and evaluative Applies a sustained evaluation
Nicholas Hytner Kinnear as Iago. 5 of different interpretations and alternative readings
of texts. This is supported by sophisticated use of
RSC, 2015, dir. Iqbal Khan The first RSC production to cast a black actor, Lucian Msamati, as Iago (the version we application of alternative interpretations to illuminate
watched in class). own critical position.
Shakespeare deliberately Freudian: Iago has Desdemona is a Othello’s language changes Iago is driven by
raised Othello to the latent homosexual “fool” for marrying a from noble, poetic free verse to “motiveless malignity”.
highest standard of desires which drive “blackamoor”. This is erratic, clipped, repetitive prose It is unrealistic for a
nobility in order to his obsession with a cautionary tale to represent his descent into woman like Desdemona
emphasise the publicity Othello’s against marrying madness. Iago “hates the to fall in love with “a
and the symbolic relationship with against your parents’ romance of Othello and the veritable negro”. Othello
universality of his fall. Desdemona. Love wishes. Iago is too loveliness of Desdemona puts Desdemona on a
“Othello is the greatest and hate are always evil to be believed. because he is by nature the pedestal and cannot
poet of them all”. Othello closely interrelated. The play is a “bloody enemy of these things. He is cope with the notion
is a victim of Iago’s farce”. cynicism loathing beauty, that she is less than
“irresistible force”. refusing to allow its existence… perfect.
Martin Iago is cynicism incarnate.”
Thomas
A.C. Bradley Wangh George Wilson Samuel Taylor-
Rymer
Iago is a ‘practical
Iago is clever, but his Knight Coleridge
joker of a peculiarly
appalling kind’. failure to
The play is true to life We must question the impact of
comprehend the “Othello is a black
and skillfully
presents human W.H. Auden power of love - in this play on English attitudes
towards foreigners. Would they
General in a white
particular Emilia’s army… he has created
nature. The see Venice as a model society,
love for Desdemona - for himself a personality
audience hates Iago Othello is always acting - or would the audience see
is his downfall. that they can accept”.
from the first to the he begins and ends the Othello’s tragedy as a “Othello is a victim of
last scene of the play. play acting a part. He E.A.J. cautionary tale against giving Imperialism”.
thrives on “histrionics” foreigners positions of power?
throughout. Honigmann
Samuel Germaine
Johnson F.R. Leavis Ania Loomba Greer