Talk:Othello

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[edit] Changes

I've editted a few bits and added themes and tropes. I got rid of discussion of Othello's race, as it would be more suitable to a page discussing his character; not very important in terms of the whole play Gaobei

I've replaced (and revised) the section on Othello's race; it was badly written, but hardly irrelevant to the play. The Singing Badger 23:52, 2 May 2005 (UTC)
Mmm, not sure I agree, but it is much better as you've written it. Thanks for putting up a chronology of Shakespeare's plays - I had actually written they were presented achronologically. not chronologically, but mainly as I didn't have the

resources to do my own! Gaobei


i deleted *Othello - Scholarly essays on Shakespeare's Othello its a link to a pay per esay site

[edit] Is Othello a 'Moor'?

Hmmm. Shakespeare did call Othello a "Moor" but it is uncertain what he meant by it. He could well mean an African black (more black than tawny) - there's a whole chapter of commentary on my old Arden which argues for or against him being either, and actors down the centuries change their make-up to suit their own interpretations. There's evidence in the text that Othello could well be a Christian, so it's not clear that he's a North African Muslim either. What do people think? Mandel 09:22, Dec 8, 2004 (UTC)

The impression I've got from reading around the subject is that Othello's racial status is blurry. He's decribed as a North African Moor, but sometimes he is described as looking like a 'black' man (a sub-Saharan African) and sometimes not. And yes, it is implied that he's a Christian, which doesn't mean that he was never a Muslim, just that he is a Christian now.
There are basically two interpretations of Othello: one is that he's a Moorish outsider who is trying hard to fit into Venetian society, hence the Christianity, loyalty to the Venetian Duke, and dating of white girls. The other is that he's proud to be a Moor and doesn't think being of a different race and/or religion should prevent him from being loyal to Venice, or from marrying Desdemona. Often, on stage, this boils down to costuming: in the first interpretation, Othello wears Venetian clothes like everyone else; in the latter, he wears African or Moorish costumes that mark him out as different.
I personally think the text suggests that the first interpretation is the more accurate one: that Othello wants to be a Christian Venetian. But the latter (that he is proud to be different) is more popular nowadays probably because it seems a more positive message about racial politics.
(If anyone wants to work the above into the article, please go ahead; I'd do it myself but I don't have the right books to confirm my recollections). The Singing Badger 15:25, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)
As far as I understand, the term "Moor" originated as meaning North African, probably from Morocco. The word evolved to mean any person from Africa, then anyone black, and then possibly any "outsider". What is important to the play is that he was an outsider, a slave. He rose to the ranks of general, just as any slave with skill might become a craftsman. Othello being a general was socially acceptable, though it was different. However, once Othello married a white woman of the upper class, he is sometimes viewed as messing with the social heirarchy.
Another Loophole July 8, 2005 03:44 (UTC)
I don't think the label is supposed to be too specific, like someone said above, it's probably just to denote him as an outsider. But, the amount of times "black" imagery is used suggests to me that Shakespeare imagined Othello as a black man despite the "moor" label: Iago, for instance, says "Even now, now, very now, an old black Ram/Is tupping your white Ewe" and "Come, lieutenant, I have a/stope of wine, and here without are a brace of Cyprus gallants/that would fain have a measure to the health of black Othello." ; Othello himself states "Haply, for I am black/And have not those soft parts of conversation/That chamberers have..." Throughout, he is associated with blackness, with no indication that we are wrong to conclude that he is in fact a black African.
My interpretation of Othello's Christianity is simply that Shakespeare didn't want to deal with the issue of Islam, which he probably didn't understand and didn't want to tie into his play. Singing Bagder's interpretation is probably just as valid, though.. --Tothebarricades July 8, 2005 04:04 (UTC)

I think it is important to note that many moors were black and the term moor means black. For those reasons it is most likely that Othello was black, because if he was arab they would hav just called him that

[edit] Changes

I've got rid of the whole section on signifier/signified. I didn´t have the energy to turn it into reasonable English, the whole thing was just a facile structuralist pile of crap.—This unsigned comment was added by Lycidas (talk • contribs) .

I've replaced it. It seems to be reasonable English to me, is a long standing part of the article, addresses important issues, and not having energy to improve something is not a good reason to delete it wholesale. Makemi 19:29, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
It's true that the Signifier / Signified section is unnecessarily jargony and, especially at the beginning, uses Saussure in a trivial, unenlightening, freshman-english kind of way. It should be changed; but currently I, like Lycidas, lack the time to change it properly. Solemnavalanche 14:48, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
The section comprises two fairly banal observations - (1) The play confronts prejudice and (2) it is about dishonesty and deceit. the saussurean terminology adds absolutely nothing.

I think that Othello really proved himself in the story. He rose to general and fought his way out of slavery. I think that a Moor is someone who originated in Africa and could men "Black or color". I think Othello really proves himself and is a good fighter for what he believes.USer:LaceyM

[edit] Spoiler tag

I recently removed the spoiler tag from the synopsis, leaving a (I admit probably too) flippant edit summary as justification. To elaborate, I think there comes a point with certain works of fiction where we have to accept that spoilers are uneccesary. Amongst many other examples (books aimed at young children (see The Little Engine that Could which had a spoiler tag removed), and iconic films (see The Magnificent Seven which again previously had spoiler tags) must feature incredibly well known fictional works of long standing that are of primary interest for reasons other than gripping plot twists. The Odyssey, Beowulf, and the various Canterbury Tales all manage to get by without spoilers (in the case of the first two they were removed), as do Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Henry IV, Part 2 (though, comically enough Henry IV, Part 1 has the tags).

Now I freely admit that my list is selective and there are examples of classical literature (The Divine Comedy) and Shakespeare plays (Henry IV Part II already mentioned but also King Lear and most ridiculously of all Julius Caesar) which do have the tags. I maintain these are a bad idea as well, however, for two main reasons. Firstly, spoilers are there to prevent enjoyment of a work being impaired by foreknowledge, yet surely the enjoyment of Shakespeare comes from the language, characterisation and/or the performance, not the plots (which are generally hackneyed by modern standards and were derivative even in Shakespeare's day). I've been to countless performances of Shakespeare (one of the perks of living near Stratford) and must confess I have never once heard anyone utter "wow, I never saw that one coming". Secondly, the spoilers in all the articles mentioned are contained within sections named either "plot" or "synopsis". A warning within a heading entitled "plot" stating that "plot and/or ending details follow" serves little more than to insult readers' intelligence. If somebody reads the synopsis section and is surprised to see details of the plot contained within then, frankly, they aren't likely to get much out of Shakespeare anyway.

Even setting aside the controversy of spoilers in general (if you have a spare hour or two the archives at Wikipedia talk:Spoiler warning make interesting reading) I've got to say that in this particular instance the tag is aimed at individuals who simply don't exist. --Daduzi talk 11:37, 16 July 2006 (UTC)



[edit] Dostoevsky, almost a modern Othello

As a Wikipedia novice, I like to make my first addition to Othello here.

In the book "The meaning of Shakespeare" Vol 2 pg 89 by Harold C. Goddard there is an interesting anecdote told by Dostoevsky's second wife under the title A Practicle Joke. She wrote that she sent Dostoevsky an anonymous letter stating that his wife was having an affair with another man. As proof, he should look at the locket she always wears. When Doestoevsky received this letter, he was very angry at her and demanded to she the locket. When he finally opened it and saw it contained his and his daughter's portaits he was very confused. She said "Fedya, you silly, how could you believe an anonymous letter?" Dostoevsky: "How do you know of the letter?" She answered "How? I myself wrote it to you!" The letter was a slightly changed letter from a short story the Dostoevsky recently read. Dostoevsky like Othello was an epileptiker. Leif Schumacher 84.154.89.85 14:59, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No plot

There is no plot here. The (article)page looks more like discussion. I am not an expert so I cant write one. I came here looking for a plot. Synopsis is not plot

--amuser 10:07, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

  • I agree that the synopsis section is far too short & needs more information. AndyJones 12:41, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
  • I also agree, I have just read the book for school and that synopsis doesnt cover most of the play. I am actually shocked that someone could dilute th story to such a short paragraph.

[edit] Essay

My essay question: Was Othello's love for Desdemona real or imagined? Discuss. What are your thoughts?

[edit] Text actually supports Black..not Arab

I don't see why this article makes it look like it's unrealistic for Othello to be black..the language in the story supports it.

Iago calls Othello sooty..(which is a derogatory way of saying black), he calls him a black ram...I mean how much more specific does Shakespeare need to be? Apparently Othello isn't Arab. Othello's race isn't as ambiguous as this article makes it out to be. This article is biased, and needs an edit.


--Vehgah 16:35, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

216.91.84.2 21:38, 30 January 2007 (UTC) This article has been vandalized, it should be flagged to fix the first paragraph

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