'Othello' AO5 Critic Quotes

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"Iago's manipulating was artfully natural."
Samuel Johnson
1 of 40
"The almost superhuman art of Iago" caused Desdemona's death.
Samuel Coleridge
2 of 40
"Iago is a being next to the devil."
Samuel Coleridge
3 of 40
Iago is "motivated by power", something "natural to man".
William Hazlitt
4 of 40
Othello is the most romantic of all of Shakespeare's characters because of his use of poetry and exotic background.
A. C. Bradley
5 of 40
Othello is "free from introspection".
A. C. Bradley
6 of 40
"Goodness annoys Iago" because he has been overlooked.
A. C. Bradley
7 of 40
Iago has been "defeated by the power of love" because he couldn't understand love.
A. C. Bradley
8 of 40
"Othello is anything but noble and endeavours to escape reality."
T. S. Eliot
9 of 40
Othello's downfall was a result of his own weaknesses not Iago's manipulation.
F. R. Leavis
10 of 40
"The mind that undoes him [Othello] is not Iago's but his own."
F. R. Leavis
11 of 40
Desdemona's decision to challenge traditional views is "heroic rather than demonic".
Karen Newman
12 of 40
Desdemona is attracted to Othello because of his sexual "otherness".
Karen Newman
13 of 40
Othello fears femininity.
Karen Newman
14 of 40
Othello's marriage isolates him.
Ania Loomba
15 of 40
"Othello is a victim of racial beliefs precisely because he becomes an agent of misogynistic ones."
Ania Loomba
16 of 40
Othello's feeling of belonging makes him "near schizophrenic".
Ania Loomba
17 of 40
Desdemona's marriage was her attempt to gain power in a society ruled by men.
Stephen Greenblatt
18 of 40
Othello and Desdemona's passion is based on lust.
Stephen Greenblatt
19 of 40
The play shows how Elizabethan women were defined by their sexual activity and relationships to men.
Valerie Traub
20 of 40
'Othello' is a masculine play, rejecting female sexuality.
Marilyn French
21 of 40
All characters who slightly encourage female independence are destroyed by Iago.
Marilyn French
22 of 40
Othello and Iago are masculine because of their Elizabethan male characteristics - "reason" and "power".
Marilyn French
23 of 40
Desdemona's death is a lesson in what happens if the male hierarchy is disobeyed.
Lisa Jardine
24 of 40
Desdemona becomes a stereotype for female passivity.
Lisa Jardine
25 of 40
Desdemona's death is an example of silencing the rebellious female voice.
Leonard Tennenhouse
26 of 40
Women who challenged the patriarchy "demand their own deaths" - violence therefore had to be used against them.
Leonard Tennenhouse
27 of 40
A woman is an "excellent ornament".
Cornelius a Lapide
28 of 40
"Despite his cleverness, he [Iago] has never felt nor understood the spiritual impulses that bind ordinary human beings together - in a word, love."
E. A. J. Honigmann
29 of 40
"Othello states he is not easily jealous - it is the most appalling bit of self-deception."
Kenneth Tyan
30 of 40
Emilia is a symbol of defiance.
Evan Wendel
31 of 40
"Iago has no respect for fellow human beings."
Jacob de Villiers
32 of 40
"Othello is a noble hero whose tragic fault is his insecurity."
Jacob de Villiers
33 of 40
"Shakespeare shows us an ideal, noble way of living but also the hellish opposite."
Jacob de Villiers
34 of 40
The play has a ridiculous and improbable plot, no poetic justice or tragic decorum.
Thomas Rymer
35 of 40
Intellectual activity prompts them to overleap those moral fences". (mainly about Iago)
Charles Lamb
36 of 40
"She [Desdemona] is a prize, a spoil of war."
Caryl Phillips
37 of 40
Iago's pain and distrust is caused by his repressed homosexual desire for Othello that is completely unrequited.
A Freudian interpretation
38 of 40
Desdemona is angelic, while Othello and Iago are hellish.
A religious interpretation
39 of 40
The handkerchief acts as a miniature of nuptial linens.
A Marxist interpretation
40 of 40

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Samuel Coleridge

Back

"The almost superhuman art of Iago" caused Desdemona's death.

Card 3

Front

Samuel Coleridge

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

William Hazlitt

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

A. C. Bradley

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
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