Rating: 
Summary: Interesting & Intriguing
Review: At first, when I saw this book I was upset someone would try to remake a great Shakespeare play in another written form. However, Lester thoroughly explains himself and his reasons for wanting to make this play a novel. 'Othello: a novel' explores a different face of the play that has been hidden. It adds new characters, removes others, and places them in England instead of Italy but the plot and all of the deceitfulness it entails remains intact. Shakespeare had a way of using common themes that live today but still eluded boredom and cliche. And Lester continues this tradition in his novel with his beautiful and unique use of simile and metaphor. It's a great book to read that should not be overlooked!
Rating:
Summary: Greatest Tragedy ever
Review: Othello is the greatest tragedy I have ever read! Usually, it is hard to relate Shakespearean stories to modern times, as in Hamlet. But Othello is both a story possible in the Renaissance, and the modern era. Normally, it would be a very difficult read as I learned in reading Romeo and Juliet. But in this edition there is a column explaining some words that are strange and/or using pictures. At the beginning and the end of the book there are lots of helpful tips in understanding the Shakespearean language. Though I still didn't understand with so much help there was a small summary explaining a chapter and the significance, which helped me a lot. Basically the story is of a black Moor, Othello and his lover, Desdemona, and how Iago turns love to hate. Iago is probably Shakespeare's best villain. How Iago manipulates Othello into destroying himself is very cunning. I personally think that instead of Romeo and Juliet, Othello should be taught in schools, and if you liked this as much as I did, then you'll love Hamlet.
Rating:
Summary: One of Shakespeare's Best
Review: I agree with the critics on this one. I feel that 'Coriolanus' doesn't get enough credit as a play; I think 'King Lear' receives far too much credit; but I think 'Othello' rightly deserves to be considered one of Shakespeare's greatest Tragedies. I even consider 'Othello' to be among Shakespeare's greatest plays even when all the Comedies, Tragedies, and Histories are judged together. This is a very powerful play and shows how a good, honest, successful man can destroy his life by having his fatal flaw of insane jealousy manipulated against him by his enemy. The one thing that bothers me about this play is my contention that the entire mess could have been averted if Othello simply sat down with his wife and simply had a real and honest conversation with her. If Othello communicated properly with his wife there could have been a very happy ending and Shakespeare could have called this play 'Much Ado About Nothing II'. I very highly recommend this play and I consider this to be Shakespeare's third greatest Tragedy right behind 'Coriolanus' and 'Hamlet', respectively.
Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare's Othello is the Ultimate Tragedy
Review: Shakespeare's Othello is an interesting and dramatic tragedy. If you like imagery and irony, you will like Othello. Shakespeare uses the power of imagery skillfully to develop themes throughout the play. For example, recurring animal imagery is used to sharpen the contrast between people and beasts, showing how Iago and Othello begin to act more like beasts than human beings. Irony also adds much to the plot of Othello to make it interesting and exciting for the reader. Much of the irony used is dramatic irony because the reader knows of Iago's plot, while the characters in the play have no idea what is about to unfold. The relationship between men and women in Othello is another aspect of the play that makes it interesting to read. Iago's wife Emilia, for example, is very cynical towards men, probably from years of living with Iago. Othello and Desdemona's relationship is also intriguing. In the beginning of the play, Othello and Desdemona are seemingly deeply in love with each other. Othello, however, is rather easily convinced that his wife is cheating on him and becomes angry to the point where he cannot forgive Desdemona. He decides to kill her. As she is being murdered, Desdemona tries to protect her husband's innocence in her own murder. Another interesting aspect of the play which makes it stand out from other Shakespearean plays is the race of the main character. Othello is black and a Moor, or Muslim. This fact brings up issues to be explored in the play. Shakespeare shows the characters being separated not only by status and rank but also by their place of origin and their religion. Overall, Shakespeare's Othello is dramatic, well-written, and thoroughly explores how evil a human being can become.
Rating: 
Summary: Moor is less
Review: Othello is in many ways the most tragic of Shakespeare's heroes, because his ultimate destruction is so
much a function of his best qualities, as opposed to folks like Hamlet, Lear, and MacBeth, who are
destroyed by their worst. Othello is a noble warrior, but very much an innocent and far too trusting of
other men's counsel, and so he is easy prey for Iago, who in turn may be Shakespeare's greatest villain,
because he is so purely evil. Richard III, by contrast, while a force of malevolence, is also just more
interesting and intelligent than those around him. Iago has none of Richard's beguiling qualities, he is
little more than the sum of his own jealousies and hatreds. And so, when this noblest hero and this
most vile villain collide, the events that follow are tragic in the human sense, not merely in a dramatic
sense. We mourn the loss of a superior being, in Othello, not just the general destruction of life. Othello is also distinguished by just how trivial are the provocations that set events in motion. Iago
uses little more than a single prop, an embroidered kerchief, and his own treacherous words to bring
about a series of deaths and the fall of a great man. In this sense it is the most writerly of plays,
reflects most fully Shakespeare's own confidence that he can take such slender threads and weave a
compelling drama. One despairs of ever saying anything novel about Shakespeare, he's been written
about so much, but the thought occurs that Iago might represent Shakespeare himself. Consider that it
is Iago's tongue and a flimsy plot device of his contrivance that force the action of the drama and his
jealousy of the handsome and much-heralded leading man that provides the motive. Surely
Shakespeare, who so loved the device of the play within a play, might have relished the idea of a play
that's a simulacrum of his own profession? I like to think so. But in the final analysis, Othello does not capture us in the same way that some of the other tragedies
do. The main characters are so unambiguous that they lack a certain depth. The plot is so contrived
and so inevitable that it seems mechanical rather than natural. You can imagine a world in which
Hamlet exacts his revenge without hesitating or where Lear realizes he's acting like a fool, but you
can't imagine a world in which Iago allows Othello and Desdemona to live happily ever after. That's a
pretty serious weakness. GRADE : B+
Rating:
Summary: Best Shakespeare play.
Review: The theme of jealousy dominates this play, in which the conniving Iago attempts to get revenge on Othello by causing him to believe that his wife, Desdemona, is betraying him. Othello is a tragic hero with the flaw of jealousy, and Shakespeare's poetic words bring life and emotion to the center of the play.
Rating:
Summary: Takes the entire text and dramatizes the presentation
Review: This full-cast dramatic recording of a classic Shakespeare takes the entire text and dramatizes the presentation, which results in a package capturing the excitement of both live play and written word. Audio listeners will enjoy the results; especially the pairing with classical music.
Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare's domestic tragedy
Review: In this modern day and age, many readers can have trouble relating with even such brilliant Shakespearean characters as Hamlet, Macbeth and Prince Hal. Deeply human as each of these are, how many of us can really identify with medieval Danish, Scottish or English royalty? Of course, master playwright that he was, Shakespeare was always able to beautifully surmount the structures of monarchy to reveal the human spirit; and yet in a play like Othello, we can find just as penetrating an examination of human nature in the context of a much more familiar social situation. Here, as in Hamlet and even Macbeth, the concerns are of love, jealousy, and crimes of passion -- but without the cloak of kings and courtiers. Further, Iago may be the single most intense character created by an author known for his characters' condensed intensity. Some try to go even further and claim that this is a play about race relations; however, in fact Othello's status as a Moor is of very little significance in the play as written, coming to the surface only once or twice early on. Instead, he is the tragedic everyman: the profound lover whose mind is twisted by the voices of those around him, the military man who finds himself lost and out of place when he returns to start a family. I heartily recommend this masterpiece for anyone looking for Shakespearean genius in a strikingly modern form.
Rating:
Summary: That Shakespeare!
Review: This was the first Shakespeare play I read and i've got to tell you that this play is great. Sure, the language takes some getting use to, but the whole plot makes up for this fault. This play is a true tragedy, and this edition helps you really understand what's happening. This is a brilliant play with helpful footnotes
Rating:
Summary: Pure Tragedy
Review: This play embodies tragedy, and may be my favorite play by Shakes. Othello has wonderful elements - some of the most unbearable and longest dramatic irony of any play, a devilish villain whose true motives we are left to guess, a virtuous but flawed protagonist, the triumph of evil over good. Othello is a gut-wrenching play and should be appreciated for its sheer dramatic energy and passion. Certainly other questions are explored - such as the issue of racial insecurities even in a successful and admired man among prejudiced people. However, perhaps the most important things to take out of it is the sheer evil that Iago spreads around him, puppeteering the good characters with strings of wickedness.
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