Othello and its characters

[Kadehadaire]

Othello


Has anyone read Othello here? If so, what do you think about all of it? The story, the characters, the ending, everything!


Let me know!!!!!

[emily655321]

Um, none of the above. I don't remember a lot about it, actually, even though we spent ages on it in my senior Shakespeare class. I just didn't find it that interesting -- kind of like Shaky's crowd-pleasing soap opera. Not much depth. But that's just me.

[IWilKikU]

Lots of people have said that Iago isn't a very in-depth character. He doesn't really have any reason to hate Othello, he's just jealous of his success. Well this may or may not be true, but if you watch the Branough film, where he plays Iago and Lawrence Fishburn plays Othello, he gives Iago much more depth. His asides and soliliqueys are much more intense than I've ever seen them on stage.

[simon]

I thought that the play wasn't one of Shakespears best, I wasn't suprised or drawn into it like in Macbeth or Hamlet. Yet my prof was adamant that this was one of his more in depth works. I woted it was good but sporadic in parts, like how Othello acts, he is a really jerky character. The play seems a bit melodramatic to me, but then so is Romeo and Juliet, two lovers killing themslevs at 14...

[IWilKikU]

Don't let your prof tell you that Othello is more in-depth than Hamlet!!! Probably Shakespeare's greatest psychological plays are Hamlet, Macbeth, and Henry IV (part 1 or part 2). Macbeth for the storyline and its' implications about fate and predestination, the other two for their deep, realistic characters, Hamlet and Falstaff.

Take a look at Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human for more.

But thats not to say that Othello isn't in-depth. It just isn't on par with those others.

[crisaor]

Othello is a good play. Not a rivel to the likes of Hamlet or Macbeth, but it's still pretty good.

[Kendall]

I love it. Iago is fantastic, some may disagree but I love his character.

[Kadehadaire]

Yeah, I think I agree with the majority on this one. It is definately not one of Shakespeares greatest feits of engineering. I agree about Iago, he is methodical in his evil planning. He has everything in his mind ahead of everyone else. The line about bringing his ship home strikes me as the heart of Iago.

At the end when he vown "never shall speak word" I think it was a great idea. Cleche no, yes. But then, it owuld have been original.


Does anyone know when Othello was written in relation to his other plays?

[IWilKikU]

It was in 1604 (according to Harold Bloom), after Hamlet (1600-1601), but before Macbeth (1606).

[Kadehadaire]

That's really cool, I didn't know that. The movie with Laurence F. is good. Iago is depicted well.

[Ivan Karamazov]

Of Shakespeare I've only read Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello. I think Hamlet and Macbeth are equally philosophically deep. Othello, on the other hand, I don't find being very philosophically deep, but it has something else to offer that makes it my favorite of the three I have read.

I read it only about 8 months ago, but it was before I read the other two plays, and I read it on my own rather than with my class, which is how I read the other two. The fact that I had a more personal experience with it may influence my opinion on it, but I think the biggest reason its my favorite is because it is the most realistic--no ghosts, witches, and there was less of a presence of fairy tale-ish kings and queens and lavish courts: the main characters weren't striving to be the masters of Scotland or Denmark, but were trying to be promoted by masters. Its a little easier to relate to Othello's characters, and the fact that they don't go into deep, philosophical rants may help them to be more real as well. But, they still go through the same sort of tradgedy as Hamlet's and Macbeth's characters, while being more realistic to a reader like me.

One of my favourite parts is Iago's soliloquey (sp?) where he starts with these lines, spoken to his buddy whose name I forget: "How poor are they who have no patience? What wounds did ever heal but by degrees?" And then when Iago's buddy has walked away, he begins talking about his plot to himself, finishing with these lines: "Aye, thats the way. Dull not device by coldness and delay." It shows exactly how two-faced Iago is, and the words seem to roll right off the tounge as well.

Othello doesn't have much meaning of life philosophy, but thats to be expected when the main characters aren't nobles and princes/esses (except Desdemona), who don't have the time to ponder whether life is "a tale told by and idiot," as Macbeth does, or to understand that in the end all that will be left of us is a skull, as Hamlet does when he is re-aquainted with Yorick. Othello is the working man's Shakespearean play, but it still communicates themes of jealousy, betrayal, and the like--but with less deep philosophical themes. I found Othello to be written a little more poetically, too; there are more cases in it than the other two in which the actor's lines (though often not philosophical) sound sweet to the ear, whatever they may be saying.

With the Utmost Jocundity,

Ivan.

[Kadehadaire]

The main idea I believe was for Shakespear to create a play based on bi-ped weakness. It is a grainy, and wonderfully textured piece, simply because it is basic. It deals in emotion and half truths. Irony and humour too are dark - and tangible. Far more so than in some other works.

[baddad]

Iago is an archetype for evil. Evil for the sake of evil. Evil for pleasure, comfort, fulfullment. Shakespear has created a character whose shadow is still cast today as the template for evil characters. Hollywood, television, fictional books, all rely on Iago and use him as the yard stick by which other evil personas are judged. Score another one for the Bard......