Critical links
‘Othello thinks of women in abstract terms’ - Lisa Hopkins
‘...there is a kind of spectrum of women...’ - Lisa Hopkins.
‘...existing literary tropes of blackness profoundly interacted with the fast changing economic
relations of Europeans and their darker ‘others’ ’ - Kim F. Hall
‘Iago is driven by motiveless malignity’ - Samuel Taylor-Coleridge
‘Othello puts Desdemona on a pedestal’ - Samuel Taylor-Coleridge
‘This is a cautionary tale against marrying against your parent’s wishes’ - Thomas Rymer
‘Iago is clever, but his failure to comprehend the power of love … is his downfall’ - E.A.J.
Honigmann
‘Would [the English audience] see Venice as a model society or would the audience
Othello’s tragedy as a cautionary tale…?’ -Ania Loomba
‘Othello is concerned in action and in theme with men’s misunderstanding of women’ - Gayle
Greene
‘...it entered into our Poets head, to make a Tragedy of this Trifle’ - Thomas Rymer
‘...he bestows a name on his moor…it is an affront…’ - Thomas Rymer
‘split himself, Iago is a master at splitting others.’ - Janet Adelman
Nuanced context points
-Ira Alridge was the first black actor to actually play Othello, in 1825. This hints at the
problematic lack of understanding and representation of race, and the audience reactions
that have changed over the years.
-The Nuremberg Chronicle may have inspired Shakespeare, with its descriptions of
mythological creatures. ‘anthropophagi… ‘
-Elizabeth and black people - there was a significant black community within London while
Shakespeare was writing, yet there was no slavery connotations associated with race - that
is a contemporary issue. By 1601, the ‘great numbers’ of ‘blackamoores’ were perceived as
a nuisance, however, and so this suggests an element of uncomplicated xenophobia.
Contemporary anxiety about miscegenation is reflected in Brabantio’s character.
‘Othello thinks of women in abstract terms’ - Lisa Hopkins
‘...there is a kind of spectrum of women...’ - Lisa Hopkins.
‘...existing literary tropes of blackness profoundly interacted with the fast changing economic
relations of Europeans and their darker ‘others’ ’ - Kim F. Hall
‘Iago is driven by motiveless malignity’ - Samuel Taylor-Coleridge
‘Othello puts Desdemona on a pedestal’ - Samuel Taylor-Coleridge
‘This is a cautionary tale against marrying against your parent’s wishes’ - Thomas Rymer
‘Iago is clever, but his failure to comprehend the power of love … is his downfall’ - E.A.J.
Honigmann
‘Would [the English audience] see Venice as a model society or would the audience
Othello’s tragedy as a cautionary tale…?’ -Ania Loomba
‘Othello is concerned in action and in theme with men’s misunderstanding of women’ - Gayle
Greene
‘...it entered into our Poets head, to make a Tragedy of this Trifle’ - Thomas Rymer
‘...he bestows a name on his moor…it is an affront…’ - Thomas Rymer
‘split himself, Iago is a master at splitting others.’ - Janet Adelman
Nuanced context points
-Ira Alridge was the first black actor to actually play Othello, in 1825. This hints at the
problematic lack of understanding and representation of race, and the audience reactions
that have changed over the years.
-The Nuremberg Chronicle may have inspired Shakespeare, with its descriptions of
mythological creatures. ‘anthropophagi… ‘
-Elizabeth and black people - there was a significant black community within London while
Shakespeare was writing, yet there was no slavery connotations associated with race - that
is a contemporary issue. By 1601, the ‘great numbers’ of ‘blackamoores’ were perceived as
a nuisance, however, and so this suggests an element of uncomplicated xenophobia.
Contemporary anxiety about miscegenation is reflected in Brabantio’s character.
