Othello: Character Studies

Columbia Critical Guides

by Nicholas Potter

Othello is a major shakespearean text, studiedwidely and often adapted for film and TV and isespecially challenging for a multicultural society.Othello lends itself to criticism through discussion ofthe major characters although this study also focuseson recent criticism's analysis of the characters as"signifiers." The study of the key characters takesthe discussion of the text immediately into thecentral issues of "otherness," gender, race andpower.

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Eleni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the early chapters on Iago (not Desdemona, Othello, or the minor characters). Potter reads Iago through various positions/critics and approaches: e.g. Romantic, particularly Coleridge's, Freudian, Marxist, etc. It definitely got me thinking about the character in other ways than as "evil" or as "motivated" by desire for preferment or sexual jealousy - which is what I wanted to do.