Othello

Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare doesn't need war or royalty to make great drama
Review: William Shakespeare is perhaps at his most subtle best in _The Tragedy of Othello_. Unlike in many of his other plays, particularly tragedies and certainly histories, Shakespeare writes on a massive scale - about the highly privileged, about royalty, about bloody family feuds and wars. Not only does _Othello_ contain none of that, but it manages to be Shakespeare's most intense play, hitting the audience harder than any other.

Like _Romeo and Juliet_, it involves star-crossed lovers: an older black officer (Othello) and a young white woman (Desdemona). Shakespeare's modernity is particularly shocking. Even in the latter half of the 20th century, audiences were not ready to see a black man with his hands upon a white woman, even if it's a white man in blackface - and yet four hundred years ago, Shakespeare wrote this play. It shatters immense racial barriers, and yet Shakespeare never intended it to be a play about race - and it isn't. Othello's race is, amazingly, highly unimportant in the grand scheme of the play.

_Othello_ hits very close to home. Rather than dealing with things most audiences never have to face, the plot is extremely domestic and straightforward - unlike in Shakespeare's other tragedies, there is no comic relief. There is one plot, one line of thought, and you are forced to deal with every minute of it. You never get a rest from the action. Then there's the domesticity of it - the villainous Iago wants to take revenge upon Othello, and so, in the guise of an honest friend, convinces Othello that Desdemona has been sleeping with fellow officer Cassio. No matter our position in life, we can all empathize with Othello's struggle between trusting his friend and trusting his wife, and the madness that comes from being overtaken by extreme jealousy. Iago's elaborate plot to destroy the lives of Othello, Cassio, and Desdemona is extremely simple to understand, even in iambic pentameter.

This is also one of the only plays where the villain, not the hero, is the one who speaks most to the audience. We learn everything about Iago and his plans, because we as an audience develop a close relationship with him as he talks to us - seeing his charming side and the side that is purely amoral and perhaps even purely evil. Shakespeare, in Iago, has created the first true villain of drama, the ultimate "charming man without a conscience." The only thing we truly -don't- know about him is why he wants to ruin the lives of these people - and perhaps that's for the best. Shakespeare has left scholars and actors to wonder about it for hundreds of years, and come up with all sorts of theories.

_The Tragedy of Othello_ just goes to prove that Shakespeare did not rely on elaborate stories of royalty and war, but could create the most intense dramas revolving around the most intimate and domestic of settings - the bedroom.

If you think you know _Othello_ because you saw the film _O_, you couldn't be more wrong. There's no such thing as a Shakespeare plot without the brilliance of Shakespearean language - and nothing captures the innocence of Desdemona and the near gleeful evil of Iago like the words of Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist to write in the English language.

Rating:
Summary: Best Shakespeare yet
Review: Next to MacBeth, Othello is the best play Shakespeare has written. The way all of the imagery and motifs molded together was fascinating. The characterization of each character playing against one another was incredible.
I find it so amazing how a simple object, like the hankerchief, can represent so much; greed, love, fidelity. Shakespeare in the best at imagery and will never be replaced.
The story is of Othello, a black fighter and warrior winning the heart of his one true love, Desdemona. Through out the play, people treat Othello as a second class citizen based on his colour . . . something very rampid in the days of Shakespeare. Iago is insanly jelous of Othello. Iago's character (the most evil of all Shakespear's villians) was extremly sinister, from the time of deceiving Othello ot Cassio right until the very end. At the time Iago deceive's Cassio - due to a passing up of a job promotion - we realize how poignant this part is, and the astute nature of evil; one of nature's moast prominent human characteristics.
The play is a story of lies, blindness and evil. Every human suffers from blindness at some point in our life and Shakespeare executes that inevitablness perfectly. Othello is firstmost a solider and with that, he proves to set a most enduring tragedy upon himself, the people around him and his love.

Rating:
Summary: A fine edition with many helps for the reader
Review: This edition is from the 3rd Arden Series and may have a more modern feel to readers than the previous series did. For example, modern scholars believe that Shakespeare's plays were performed without break between scene and act so this edition does away with the ACT I Scene 2 headings and instead merely inserts 1.2 in the text where the change occurs.

There is a fine introductory essay that gives important cultural information to help the reader understand the moral climate in Venice in Shakespeare's time and the context of the play in the author's career and times.

This edition has the many good notes one expects from Arden editions. The longer notes are moved to the back to avoid too great an interruption to the readability of the text. There is also music for the two songs in the play and an index.

A fine edition that I am glad to own and refer to.

Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare at His Best!
Review: Othello is by without a doubt my favorite of the plethora of Shakespeare's tragedies. Although Othello himself is quite an intricate character, it was funny and almost ironic how the character that grabbed my observance the most was the villain Iago. Iago, being perhaps Shakespeare's most consummate villain, directly or indirectly seemed to control the minds and hearts of almost everyone he interacted with. Bravery, loyalty, ambition, honesty, and chivalry are all issues addressed within the play, and when combined with a great deal of power struggles, they can create an intense whirlwind of emotions and confusion running high. Othello, even being a powerful and bold general, is easily deceived by Iago as well as are many of the other characters who soon come to find out what it means to be struck by Iago's wrath. All of these things considered, one can easily find themselves engulfed with all sorts of emotions, and be filled with empathy and rage toward the diverse array of characters, maybe even find a little piece of themselves in each one of them. The play can be compared to many of Shakespeare's plays, both comedy and tragedy, in different ways. If you enjoyed the plot of Much Ado About Nothing, or Romeo and Juliet, then you can not go wrong by reading this play. Also, if you like strong women roles and always find yourself identifying easily with those characters in Shakespeare's plays, one of the female characters in Othello, Emelia will be quite a delight. For me, by the last page and last quote of this play, I was literally holding back the tears, and that impact is no exaggeration. If you have yet to read Othello, don't wait another second. Go right now to the nearest bookshelf, dust it off and I promise the pages will just seem to simply turn themselves. Enjoy!

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Summary: Othello is O good read O! Makes me think of Jell-o! Really.
Review: While I was reading Othello with my tubby custard in one hand and the book held at a 90 degree angel in the other I thought, I'm reading a play and eating a custard from and outlawed children's show how bizare. However, life is filled with such suprises. Kind of like the suprises in the Bard's play Othello. Othello is a man who should have had it all. He had friends, a loving wife, and an army at his command. The play follows Othello through a conspiracy of his villanous friend, Iago, not the parrot from Aladin, but Shakespeare's greatest villan. Iago was disgrunteled by the fact that he was passed up on a raise and there fore plots everyone's downfall. Making this a great read for the guy at the bottom of totum pole who is doing fries and wants to move up to salads. Iago in the openion of this reader is the true comic genius. He plays Othello and others like they have the mental capacity of tree stumps. He convinces Othello that Desdemona, his wife, is having an afair. Iago narrates most of the play and you here a lot of what he is thinking and planing to do. Which brings me to jello nobody cares what Bill Cosby is thinking or that he is still trying to salvage a carrier. This play is by far one of the best of Shakespeares in terms of great characters, surprises, and monologes. The readers are beautifully captivated by the play with the genius use of dramatic irony. Nobody knows what will happen and at anytime a surprise is waiting to happen.

Rating:
Summary: Deplorable!
Review: "Othello" is a play that will show you how unredeemable human beings can be. It'll make you question everyone, along with his or her motives and beliefs. It also shows you how men lusted after women in the late 16th century, but how women could not lust after men. The double standard was put to the test, and, as always, women lose this battle. Women may sell themselves as whores, and are ridiculed for it, but the men who use their services are overlooked. This is a foul play and I think Shakespeare held women without regard. Othello was a despicable man who had little self-esteem I do not recommend.

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Summary: Arkangel's Recording of Othello Disappoints
Review: I bought this recording with high hopes. What better complement to reading Shakespeare than hearing him, right? Well, not with this recording. The cast is made up of "distinguished actors," the insert proclaims, but it's obvious that these actors haven't done Shakespeare since they were in junior high school. Nor have they improved since then: none of the actors has any feel for the Shakespearean line. The speaking is stiff and mechanical, and half the time it sounds like a Monty Python farce! When there are no visual effects to distract us, low-quality acting really sticks out. For audio recordings, you need the best voices. Too bad Arkangel didn't realize this. My advice? Grind up these CDs and use them to fertilize your nasturtiums.

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Summary: Iago's Show
Review: This is one of Shakespheare's more psychologically complex plays. It is fun to experience the total meltdown of Othello by the scheming of Iago, a very wicked and unappealing character except for his cleverness. Iago is a misogynist who is paranoid about his wife being untrue to him with Othello. In his warped mind, he believes that this justifies him setting up Othello for a fall. Iago manipulates everyone and every event to his advantage until the end. He makes Othello question the virtue of Desdemona by saying that she was dishonorable to her father by not informing him of her affair with Othello.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging, but good!
Review: I only started reading Shakespeare this summer, yet I have become a fan. As a non-native English speaker I struggle with the language, but I still enjoy Shakespeare's writing.

This play is not called Shakespeare's greatest tragedy for nothing. This is a story of hate, lies and evil. The protagonist Othello, a black general, and his beautiful wife, Desdemona, a white senator's daughter, are deeply in love. Yet, his ensign Iago is able to manipulate Othello into believing his wife is cheating on him.

This play shows how easily a perfectly honest man can be manipulated to the point where he is capable of killing the person he loves.

A powerful play. Highly recommended!

PS: If you buy the book in "the New Penguin" edition you will find in the beginning of the book a good introduction explaining the play and the language, a little bit on the history, which you will find helpful as you get on to read the play.

Rating:
Summary: A boring book I had to read for school that I actually liked
Review: Yes, I had to read this book for my honors english class at school. I go to San Marcos High and I'm a sophomore. My teacher assigned us this book and I thought it was going to be another boring book to screw around with and get a bad grade like usual. Well, I ended up loving this book and It's great reading for those who aren't much of Shakespeare readers because this book has the meanings of words and phrases on the opposite page! It's awesome and I never thought I'd be saying that after reading a school assinged book!