Traditional
English Lit: AQA A Level Othello, topic 10.1.2
Overview of Traditional Criticism
Othello has been reviewed by many critics, both negatively, positively and probingly.
Rymer
- Thomas Rymer (c.1641-1713) attacked the play for its use of Othello as a tragic hero and said that it was contrived because, unlike classical tragedies, it shifted its location (the conventional model was to have one location).
- He felt that the play had an ‘improbable’ plot.
Racism
- Rymer seemed to have a racist outlook because he could not conceive of how a Moorish or Black character could be a tragic hero.
- Rymer also argued that one of the play’s morals was a warning ‘to all good wives that they look well to their men’.
- Feminist Literary scholarship may have something to say about this, as examined below.
Johnson
- Samuel Johnson (1709-84) meanwhile, praised the play for its ‘aesthetic qualities’ showing that he much appreciated the poetry in the text.
- He also admired the ‘cool malignity’ of Iago and saw the play as being very modern in its presentation of characterisation.
- He also admired the swift movement of the action.
Coleridge
- The critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) gave a series of lectures about Othello made between 1818-9.
- Coleridge most admired Shakespeare’s creation of Roderigo as a ‘dupe’, but he contested the common interpretation of Othello as a Black sub-Saharan African.
- Coleridge felt he should be truly presented as a Muslim North African, though admits that seemingly characters in the play are unable to make the distinction.
Motives and suspicion
- Coleridge famously also said that the search for Iago’s motive was ‘the motive-hunting of [a] motiveless Malignity’ and that, in fact, Iago was ‘a being next to a devil, but not quite a devil’.
- Interestingly, Coleridge also said that the play was not really about ‘jealousy’ and that, in fact, it was about ‘suspicion’.
Overview of Traditional Performance
The first known performance of Othello occurred on 1 November 1604, at Whitehall Palace in London.
Alterations
- After the death of Shakespeare, many of his plays were altered and changed to fit tastes in successive centuries.
- However, Othello is one of the few Shakespearean plays not to be adapted or changed during the Restoration and the eighteenth century.
Endurance
- History has shown that Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most enduring plays.
- One of its core themes—the notion of jealousy—is so timeless, that this may well be the reason why it is still well-received today.
Test yourself on Traditional
How did Samuel Johnson (1709-84) respond to Othello?
Which critic thought that Othello was about 'suspicion' rather than 'jealousy'?
How did Coleridge think Othello should be presented?
Which of these are true of Othello?
When, in particular, were many of Shakespeare's plays altered?