#Classic: Othello
Lawrence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh (1995)
- Author: W. Shakespeare
- Title: Othello
- Performed at court: 1603
- PLOT wikipedia page
- List of Challenges
- Monthly plan
- Classic Club Master list
Structure:
- Othello contains five acts with a total of 15 scenes
- If you go slowly…total reading time of three to four hours.
- I read the play Open Source Shakespeare website
- while I listened to the audio book (2 hr 36 min)
- It is an excellent recording of the
- November 2007 performance at the
- Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as the Moor Othello,
- Ewan McGregor as the scheming Iago
- and Kelly Reilly as the gentle Desdemona.
Quickscan:
- Love triangles: Othello – Desdemona – Roderigo
- Focus: race...Othello’s dark skin and humble origins (Moor)
- ..so important that Shakespeare put it in the title!
- Family issue: Desdemona marries an dark skinned ‘other’.
- ….her father is furious!
- Plot twists:…too many to list here…just read the play!
- Betrayal: Clever Iago deceives character and makes
- …them not trust a third party…Iago is never in the picture!
- Othello: main character, name is in the title of play but…
- ..the spotlight is on Iago 70% of the time!
- Fatal flaw Othello: jealousy
- Iago: spider, patiently making web that will ’emesh them all‘
- …character you love to hate!
- Desdemona: perfect Elizabethan wife (soft, passive, devoted
- Jealousy: “…green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”
- Marriage: soliloquy by Othello before killing wife… (Act 5,2 1-24) powerful!
- Shakespeare’s statement: Who do you trust?
- Value of woman’s word, honor…Desdemona
- …vs that of a man “Honest, Iago”.
- Setting: Venice symbol law and order, rational thought and reason
- Setting: Cyprus symbol of chaos and disorder
- Major theme: appearance vs reality (lies vs truth)
- Minor themes: jealousy, racism, manipulation
- Body count: 4
- Quiz : only 2 WS’s plays feature …non-white characters
- ….Othello, but who is the other?
Conclusion: #MustRead Classic
6 Comments
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NancyElin.blog 
Would it be The the Moroccan in Merchant of Venice?
I read this play as 14 yr freshman in high-school.
Field trip to NYC to see the play on the stage.
The only thing I remember is the train ride and one of the girls threw up!
So this was a great re-read!
You get a prize for at least trying to answer the pop-quiz!
It was Aaron, the Moor, love of Tamora in Titus Andronicus (1593)!
Another play I have yet to see or read!