Othello - Library Information - Reading - Research Guides at Aquinas College

Introduction

Othello begins on a street in Venice, in the midst of an argument between Roderigo, a rich man, and Iago. Roderigo has been paying Iago to help him in his suit to Desdemona. But Roderigo has just learned that Desdemona has married Othello, a general whom Iago begrudgingly serves as ensign. Iago says he hates Othello, who recently passed him over for the position of lieutenant in favor of the inexperienced soldier Michael Cassio...

SparkNotes

Audio Book

Audio Book: Librivox Othello
Aquinas College Wheelers eAudiobook platform
Downloadable audiobook MP3

Related Readings

Oxford University Press Blog: Shakespeare and Islam
Without Islam there would be no Shakespeare. This may seem surprising or even controversial to those who imagine a ‘national bard’ insulated from the wider world. Such an approach is typified in the words of the celebrated historian A.L. Rowse, who wrote that when it came to creatively connecting with that world, Shakespeare, the ‘quiet countryman’, was ‘the least engaged writer there ever was’.
British Library: Racism, misogyny and ‘motiveless malignity’ in Othello
Anyone who doubts that Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies were written from an imaginative standpoint far ahead of his time need only think of Othello. The basic idea of the play is so well known that it’s easy to forget the startling boldness of Shakespeare’s decision to take Cinthio’s brief tale of a doomed mixed-race marriage and transform it into a heart-breaking tragedy.
British Library: Othello, the role that entices and enrages actors of all skin colours
British Library: Critical approaches to Othello
There have been numerous interpretations of Othello over the last 400 years. Virginia Mason Vaughan discusses four recent critical approaches: feminist, new historicist, marxist and post-colonial.
British Library: Multiculturalism in Shakespeare
Andrew Dickson describes the position of racial and religious minorities in Renaissance England, and considers how this might have influenced Shakespeare's depiction of immigrants, outsiders and exiles.

Othello Performances

Online Study Guides

LitCharts: Othello Study Guide
Spark Notes: Othello
No Fear Shakespeare: Othello
No Fear Shakespeare puts Shakespeare's language side-by-side with a facing-page translation into modern English
CliffsNotes: Othello

Othello is not only one of Shakespeare's greatest works, it is also a text laden with meaning and themes. This video looks at the various themes of love and jealousy, proof and judgement, as well as the symbolism in the handkerchief. By playing through four key sections of the play, the video shows how the themes work.

Analysing Othello through understanding the character of Iago; Historic background to the play; Shakespeare's presentation of evil; motivation of Iago and Othello as a victim; Judgement and Proof.

Library Information - Reading: Othello

Introduction

Audio Book

Related Readings

Online Study Guides

Othello (Shakespeare) – Thug Notes Summary & Analysis