Othello
Witty
Erratic
Tragic

Othello

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Reviews

Photo of ria
ria@peqchy
3 stars
Aug 2, 2024

where was the homosexual energy between desdemona and bianca/emilia?? false advertising ❌❌

+16
Photo of rory
rory@evergreen
4.5 stars
Mar 24, 2024

they'll never make me hate you desdemona

Photo of britt
britt@bbeenreading
3 stars
Mar 4, 2024

had to read it for school 🙄

Photo of Jeweliet Coffee
Jeweliet Coffee@jewelietcoffee
3.5 stars
Feb 19, 2024

Very well written and tragic play.

+4
Photo of Maria Pia Cerbo
Maria Pia Cerbo @mariapia
3.5 stars
Jan 26, 2024

la genialità di Shakespeare è indiscutibile. purtroppo mi sono resa conto che la scrittura teatrale non è proprio il mio genere ma mi piacerebbe molto vedenre la messa in scena

Photo of jul
jul@solarpqwer
4.5 stars
Jan 21, 2024

need to start saying i will incontinently drown myself

Photo of Zeke Taylor
Zeke Taylor@zt1230
5 stars
Sep 5, 2023

👏 😢

Photo of Roisin Ramdhayan
Roisin Ramdhayan @roisin05
4 stars
Jul 9, 2023

Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak. I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

+12
Photo of Emmm :p
Emmm :p@emgoatevermore
4.25 stars
May 11, 2023

My favourite of Shakespeare's plays! Delves into race and dissects stereotypes.

Photo of Maite Alarcon Leon
Maite Alarcon Leon@chillmee
4 stars
Apr 29, 2023

** spoiler alert ** What on Earth. Sexist patriarchal douche kills his wife based on no real proof. Contemporary as hell.

Photo of Jamieson
Jamieson@jamiesonk
3 stars
Jan 23, 2023

No problems with Othello, but don't find it to be Shakespeare's best play, you feel? I really love (or love to hate) Iago though. He's such a clever and well constructed villian and I find him to be one of the most cunning and intriguing characters because his motivations and aims are never 100% clear and I like that. Some iconic lines though "beware of jealousy, for it is the green eyed monster" I mean it's classic Shakespeare. Also I feel so sorry for Cassio bc he honestly just came out here to have a good time and then he gets attacked outta nowhere by Iago and peer pressured into drinking too much like it's not really not a great time for Michael Cassio Also Iago is such a drama queen lmao I mean "I am not what I am" pls you're so pretentious don't quote the bible to me But yeah don't love it, definitely don't hate it. (Although! reading the script is such a bore I'm seeing a play version of it next week and that'll be much better)

Photo of Molly Lewis
Molly Lewis@mollybeelewis
3 stars
Dec 30, 2022

really wish Shakespearean characters could just learn to communicate

+2
Photo of elizabeth church
elizabeth church@elizabeth_church
5 stars
Aug 12, 2022

** spoiler alert ** Guysssssss why did no one tell me Shakespeare was good?? Have u heard of him, he's got some talent this guy. This was prob the first Shakespeare that I actually really really enjoyed. I was annotating this book like crazy. Iago is a crazy evil coocoo guy and I hate him. Othello is EVEN WORSE I reallyyyyy hate that guy. HE KILLED HIS WIFE WITH NO PROOF!! Like sir shouldn't you get a little more proof before you go around killing people. And even if Desdemona was having an affair... YOU DON'T KILL HER FOR IT!! OH MY GOSH and the worst part... he literally asked her if she was sleeping with Cassio and she said no and the he just kept on calling her a liar. WHAT THE HECK!! OH MY GOSH aaaand instead of getting a just punishment and spending the rest of his life in jail he kills himself!! So he doesn't even serve a sentence in prison!! WHAT THE HECK!! Even though we didn't really get to know a lot about Desdemona, I still love her. Oh and Emilia is a total girlboss!! She stood up to Othello and Iago and called them out on their bullshit even after she was being threatened... and then Iago KILLED HER!! Why are all the good people dying in this play (maybe because it's a tragedy dummy).

Photo of Celeste Richardson
Celeste Richardson@cecereadsandsings
4 stars
Aug 11, 2022

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. Yesterday I had a random hankering for some Shakespeare. Weird craving, I know, but it just hits me every once in a while. However, I feel like I can’t fully appreciate any of his work by simply reading it. So what I do is grab my giant collection of his plays, plug in either a film or dramatized audio version of whichever play I’ve chosen, and read along. Shakespeare never intended for his work to be read; it was written to be performed. Since it was a rainy afternoon, I could afford to devote three hours to simultaneously reading and listening to Othello, and it was by far the most I’ve ever enjoyed this particular play. I’ve read all of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets (it was a requirement for my undergrad degree), but I’ve never really connected to his tragedies. Even as a teacher, works like Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and King Lear were works to be trudged through, and I tried to make them as painless as possible for my students, skipping them all together when I could in favor of lighter works such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (my favorite) and Much Ado About Nothing. But I thoroughly enjoyed Othello this go round. Whether that’s due to being older or not having to teach it, or because the audio drama I found was incredible, or a combination of all the above, it was an absolute pleasure to read. Even if I knew it was all going to end horribly. As I stated above, the fully dramatized audio version of Othello I stumbled upon was absolutely exquisite. It was a production from London’s Donmar Warehouse (and is available for free download here), and featured a phenomenal voice cast including Ewan McGregor, Tom Hiddleston, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Fairley, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello. It was pretty incredible to hear young Obi-Wan, Loki, Mary Watson, Catelyn Stark, and Solomon Northrup all together as one cast, losing themselves in rolls that were penned centuries ago. Something that I find amusing every time I revisit anything Shakespearean is how tightly linked his name has become with high-brow entertainment. Because nothing could have been further from the truth during his lifetime. His humor is rude and ribald, and always has been. If he were alive today, his social media would be filled with rude jokes and NSFW pics, and I doubt the modern scripts he wrote would be considered heart-breaking works of staggering genius. And yet the stories he crafted have more staying power in our modern culture than anything outside of the Bible. How often have these plays been adapted under different names? How deeply do these stories influence newer books and movies and television shows with or without the writers consciously realizing it? While not his most popular play, Othello is another demonstration of this staying power. This play and its characters have influenced who knows how many stories since it was first written and performed, especially regarding race and jealousy. Iago remains one of the most chilling villains I’ve come across in fiction, and jealousy rooted in false information and imagined slights is a very dominant theme in many modern works. A few years ago I watched Shakespeare Live! From the RSC, and there was a jazz dance of the climax of Othello’s jealousy, and this dance has stuck with me for years. I could still see and hear it in my mind, even as I read. I’ve combed YouTube in search of the clip, but to no avail. I might have to give in and buy a copy of the entire show just so I can see that dance again. I’m going to be on the lookout for other dramatized, full cast audio versions of Shakespeare’s work, especially his tragedies as they’ve always been more difficult for me to enjoy. Because, you know, they’re tragic. But I strongly believe that, even though Shakespeare would laugh at how his work as been embraced as entertainment for the upper echelon of society, the fact that it has maintained an important roll in our culture for four centuries means that it’s worth a slice of your time.

Photo of nina
nina@oldbint
4 stars
May 30, 2022

i loved this more than i thought i would.

Photo of Deniz Erkaradağ
Deniz Erkaradağ@denizerkaradag
5 stars
May 21, 2022

Othello was written right after Hamlet and we can hear Hamlet's echoes in it. However we can see characters' inner worlds in Hamlet where we see outher world in Othello.

Photo of Morgan Moeller
Morgan Moeller @futurepotus2004
2 stars
Apr 8, 2022

Out of all the Shakespeare I have read. I highly recommend you NOT reading this one, just skip over it. Could have been sumed up so much.

Photo of allison moler
allison moler@slayingreading
4 stars
Mar 8, 2022

shakespeare popped off on this one

Photo of Liana
Liana@liana
0.5 stars
Feb 12, 2022

Oh, look at Othello, the genius of trust issues! He claims to love his wife, but then he goes and puts all his faith in Iago, the sketchy dude he knows he shouldn't trust. What a complete moron! Seriously, Othello, get it together. Your doubts are as dumb as a bag of rocks. How can you be so blind? It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Shake my head.

+3
Photo of Eleanor Luhar
Eleanor Luhar@bookmarked642
3 stars
Feb 2, 2022

Like The Great Gatsby, I am studying this for part of my A Level course and have this particular edition which includes notes and definitions.  And like with my last review, this is only going to be short. (Mostly because I'm so tired of studying this book that I don't want to spend extra time on it now.) In classic Shakespearean style, there's a hell of a lot of misunderstanding and, of course, death. There's even a love-driven suicide at the end, which Shakespeare was rather fond of including it seems. This play is renowned for addressing a number of topics such as race, class differences, love and jealousy. Mostly, it is about the latter. It's always hard to get into these plays, but other than that it's pretty good. Iago is possibly one of Shakespeare's best villains, has he is so cunning and clever with his acts. 3 stars.

Photo of Sophia De La Garza
Sophia De La Garza@sophiaalexisbooks
4 stars
Jan 1, 2022

4.5 stars! I LOVED THIS BOOK, though I had a few moments that went a bit dull for me, thus knocking my rating to 4.5 instead of 5 stars. I loved the characters, the plot, ugh it was fantastic and one of my favorite Shakespeare plays so far.

Photo of Tallulah Robinson
Tallulah Robinson @tallulahray
5 stars
Dec 29, 2021

Even though this book was set for college I looked forward to reading it and I just have to say wtf to do something so vile of no good evidence at all! Desdemona is so naive and hard to like, but not nearly as hard to like as Othello and Iago.

Photo of Caitlyn DeRouin
Caitlyn DeRouin@caitlynderouin
4 stars
Dec 14, 2021

Gosh, I forgot just HOW tragic Othello is. Also, if your first thought upon hearing the line "Have you prayed tonight, Desdemona?" is the My Junk scene in Spring Awakening, then you've maybe seen Spring Awakening too many times (I'm speaking from experience, I almost laughed out loud)

Photo of Maggie Clark
Maggie Clark@magatha-the-reader
3.5 stars
Dec 9, 2021

I didn’t enjoy this play as much as I have enjoyed Shakespeare’s other works, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have anything to offer. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dramatic irony. This play made me consider how women feel when they are stuck in an unhappy marriage, and it caused me to question if I am too trusting of others. While Othello was the main character, Emilia stole the show for me. She is a victim, yet she does find a way to fight back when the other characters do not. ~Spoilers~ Othello is clearly not very bright. If he had just listened to his wife, or questioned Iago’s intentions for one minute, this play would have a much happier ending. Once Desdemona had died, and Emilia had exposed Iago, Othello can see his own stupidity. Desdemona’s character might come off as weak since she does not attempt to physically fight off Othello when he is attempting to kill her, but I believe that her attempt to beg for her life shows her awareness that she would stand no chance in a physical fight against Othello. In her last line, it might seem like she is defending Othello by blaming herself for her death, but I don’t think was her intention. It seems like Desdemona said this because she has come to the understanding that none of the tragic events of the play would have unfolded if she had not fallen for Othello. ~Emilia~ While it could be argued that Emilia is an antagonist because she does give Iago the handkerchief, that’s simply incorrect. Emilia is just as much of a victim of spousal abuse as Desdemona is. It makes sense that she is trying to help Iago because it means that he might show her affection or at least not abuse her. When she tells Othello he is stupid for believing Iago, she is not just reprimanding him, but she is also reprimanding herself for believing her husband. Emilia showed bravery when she spoke against Iago, and that made her my favorite character.

This review contains a spoiler
+3

Highlights

Photo of Megan Humphrey
Megan Humphrey@shatterededges13

Villainy, villainy, villainy! I think upon’t; I think: I smell’t: O villainy! I thought so then; I’ll kill myself for grief. O villainy, villainy!

Page 127
This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of Megan Humphrey
Megan Humphrey@shatterededges13

Thou art rash as fire to say That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!

Page 125

Emilia is forever the best character

Photo of Tyler Franklin
Tyler Franklin@nirvaba93

Slowly but surely gonna get through this