Critical Responses to "Othello"

Paper Summary:

This paper begins with a brief background to the history of the play "Othello" by Willia, Shakespeare. It then moves on to discuss some of the themes and issues the play has raised over the years such as the racial implications of the term 'moor' that was used to describe Othello himself. The paper uses arguments and quotes from critics such as Charles Lamb, Coleridge and Thomas Rhymer, as well as quotes from the play itself.

From the Paper:

"Thomas Rymer was an English critic and historiographer, especially interested in drama and drama criticism. He was very hostile towards contemporary dramatists of his time and in his essay A Short View of Tragedy written in 1692, he famously labelled Othello "a bloody farce without salt or savour". Rymer had nothing good to say about Othello and objected that Shakespeare had dignified a black man by giving him a name. Because of such comments, Rymer was widely regarded as the worst critic to ever publish anything about Shakespeare. Rymer didn't believe that the play was a true "tragedy" because the issue of the handkerchief was not an important enough event for tragedy to come from. He was of the opinion that tragedy should come from serious matters."

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