Othello Critics

"PREY TO THE DOMINANT IDEOLOGY OF WIFELY VIRTUE"- CAROLE THOMAS NEELEY

"SHE UNDERSCORES DESDEMONA'S LACK OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE WORLD" - MATT SMITH

"HER HANDING OVER OF THE NAPKIN WAS STUPIDITY AND NOTHING WORSE"- AC BRADLEY 

"SHE SHARES IAGO'S RESENTMENT OF CLASS... SHE WANTS TO WATCH HER BETTERS SUFFER" - BERRY

"SHE DIES IN SERVICE OF THE TRUTH" - MATT SMITH

WILSON KNIGHT CALLED THE WAY OTHELLO SPEAKS "THE OTHELLO MUSIC" 

HE SAID OTHELLO SPEAKS BEAUTIFULLY BUT DOUBTS HIMSELF

"MOTIVELESS MALIGNITY" - SL COLERIDGE

"A BEING NEXT TO A DEVIL" - SL COLERIDGE

"NOBLE AND HAS A GREAT DEPTH OF PASSION" - HAZLITT

"WHEN SHE ARRIVES IN ACT 1 SHE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF POWER" 

"HER DEATH IS THE SILENCING OF A REBELLIOUS FEMALE VOICE" 

BELIEVES VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN WAS USED AS A VISUAL WAY TO CRITIQUE THE PATRIARCHY

- LEONARD TENNENHOUSE

"DESDEMONA IS PUNISHED FOR BEING TOO KNOWING" - LISA JARDINE

"HIS DOWNFALL IS BECAUSE OF HIS OWN WEAKNESS" - FR LEVIS

" A THOROUGHLY BAD, COLD MAN WHO IS SUPREMELY WICKED" - AC BRADLEY

"OTHELLO'S FINAL SPEECH IS A TERRIBLE EXPOSURE OF HUMAN WEAKNESS" - TS ELIOT

"NOT A PROPER TRAGEDY DUE TO LACK OF POETIC JUSTICE"- RYMER

IMPRESSED BY THE "FIERY OPENNESS OF OTHELLO THE COOL MALIGNITY OF IAGO AND THE SOFT SIMPLICITY OF DESDEMONA" - JOHNSON

"EITHER SHAKESPEARE WANTS US TO CONSIDER EMILIA INCREDIBLY DIMWITTED OR HE MADE HER TOO AFRAID OF IAGO TO CHALLENGE HIM UNTIL ITS TOO LATE" - HONIGMANN

"IT IS POSSIBLE TO SEE HER AS THE STRONGEST, MOST HEROIC PERSON IN THE PLAY" - HONIGMANN 

"AT THE END HE HAS CEASED TO THINK ABOUT DESDEMONA AND IS THINKING ABOUT HIMSELF" - TS ELIOT 

PENNY GRAY- FEMINIST CRITIC

SEES EMILIA'S SPEECH ABOUT DOUBLE STANDARDS AS A LAST ATTEMPT TO "SAVE DESDEMONA FROM HER SELF-DESTRUCTIVE FEMININE PASSIVITY" 

SEES THE WILLOW SONG AS EVIDENCE FOR DESDEMONA FITTING INTO THAT STEREOTYPICAL "INNOCENT GIRL DYING FOR THE LOVE OF A FALSE-HEARTED MAN"