Philip C. Kolin - Othello: Critical Essays

PHILIP C. KOLIN, General Editor

ROMEO AND JULIET

Critical Essays

edited by John F. Andrews

CORIOLANUS

Critical Essays

edited by David Wheeler

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Critical Essays

edited by Philip C. Kolin

LOVES LABOURS LOST

Critical Essays

edited by Felicia Hardison Londr

THE WINTERS TALE

Critical Essays

edited by Maurice Hunt

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

Critical Essays

edited by June Schlueter

VENUS AND ADONIS

Critical Essays

edited by Philip C. Kolin

AS YOU LIKE IT

FROM 1600 TO THE PRESENT

Critical Essays

edited by Edward Tomarken

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

Critical Essays

edited by Robert S. Miola

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM

Critical Essays

edited by Dorothea Kehler

SHAKESPEARES SONNETS

Critical Essays

edited by James Schiffer

PERICLES

Critical Essays

edited by David Skeele

THE TEMPEST

Critical Essays

edited by Patrick M. Murphy

OTHELLO

New Critical Essays

Edited by Philip C. Kolin

HAMLET

New Critical Essays

edited by Arthur F. Kinney

EDITED BY PHILIP C. KOLIN

ROUTLEDGE

NEW YORK AND LONDON

Published in 2002 by
Routledge
270 Madison Ave,
New York NY 10016

Published in Great Britain by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park,
Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Copyright 2002 by Philip C. Kolin

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group.

Transferred to Digital Printing 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover photo: Laurence Olivier as Othello, 1964. Photograph by Angus McBean. The Harvard Theatre Collection. The Houghton Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Othello: new critical essays / edited by Philip C. Kolin.

p. cm.(Shakespeare criticism; v. 28)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0815335741 (acid free paper)

1. Shakespeare, William 15641616. Othello. I. Kolin, Philip C. II. Series

PR2829 .O855 2001

822.33dc21

2001019475

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent.

For Kathleen and John Curley,
with my love

Blackness Made Visible:
A Survey of Othello in Criticism, on Stage, and on Screen

PHILIP C. KOLIN

HUGH MACRAE RICHMOND

White Faces, Blackface:
The Production of Race in Othello

SUJATA IYENGAR

PETER ERICKSON

Words and Performances:
Roderigo and the Mixed Dramaturgy of Race and Gender in Othello

JOHN R. FORD

The Curse of Cush:
Othellos Judaic Ancestry

JAMES R. ANDREAS, SR.

Relating Things to the State:
The State and the Subject of Othello

THOMAS MOISAN

Venetian Ideology or Transversal Power?
Iagos Motives and the Means by which Othello Falls

BRYAN REYNOLDS AND JOSEPH FITZPATRICK

DAVID BEVINGTON

Truly, an obedient lady:
Desdemona, Emilia, and the Doctrine of Obedience in Othello

SARA MUNSON DEATS

JOHN GRONBECK-TEDESCO

CLIFFORD RONAN

Representing Othello:
Early Modern Jury Trials and the Equitable Judgments of Tragedy

NICHOLAS MOSCHOVAKIS

JAMES SCHIFFER

The O in Othello:
Tropes of Damnation and Nothingness

DANIEL J. VITKUS

Trumpeting and seeled Eyes:
A Semiotics of [Eye]conography in Othello

LARUE LOVE SLOAN

Work on my medicine:
Physiologies and Anatomies in Othello

MARY F. LUX

JAY L. HALIO

SCOTT MCMILLIN

My cue to fight:
Stage Violence in Othello

FRANCIS X. KUHN

An Interview with Kent Thompson,
Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival

PHILIP C. KOLIN

Iago may have been wrong on most things, but he was unequivocally clear on this: Good name in man and woman Is the immediate jewel of their souls. In gathering, preparing, and introducing this volume of original engaging criticism on Othello, I was greatly assisted by the following souls whose reputations are like valuable jewels to me.

First off, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my 20 contributors, whose essays expand the horizons from which we see and yet recoil from the power and terror that is Othello.

I also would like to thank the many theatre companies who responded so generously to my requests for information on their productions of Othello. In particular, I am grateful to Derrick Ricketts at the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas, Amy Richards at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Jane Edmonds at the Stratford Festival of Canada, Sara Danielsen at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Marsha Arado of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Dennis Behl of the Guthrie Theatre, and Sara Gruber at the Shakespeare Theatre. Special thanks goes to Kent Thompson, the Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, for kindly granting me the interview that appears at the end of this volume.

I also thank Allen Hale at the University of Illinois and Annette Fern at the Harvard Theatre Collection for their kind assistance in helping me locate several of the photos for this volume.

To my editors at RoutledgeAnne Davidson, Angela Kao, and Henry BashwinerI say a hearty thank you for your cooperation and advice.

At the University of Southern Mississippi, I continue to record happily my gratitude to the following individuals who support my researchVice President for Research Donald Cotten, Glenn T. Harper, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and my patron, and Chair of the Department of English, Michael Salda. Karolyn Thompson, Inter-Library Loan Librarian, worked very hard with characteristic kindness and dispatch to find items for me. To my graduate students who have assisted me in countless ways over the last two years, I say a special prayer of thanks for Terri Ruckel, Christina Hunter, Christopher Reese, and Rick Warner; to Shanna Linder goes extra Paters and Aves for her superlative keyboarding skills. Most significantly, I am thankful for the Aubrey and Ella Lucas Grant which enabled me to prepare this volume and to purchase Othello films for the University of Southern Mississippis Cook Library.

I am also grateful to my many friends in Hattiesburg who have assisted me with their kindness and prayersSister Carmelita Stinn, SFCC, Deacon Ralph and Mary Torelli, Father G. Ed Lundin, Father Tommy Conway, Russell and Debbie Dukette and Vicki Breazeale. To my spiritual parents Margie and Al Parishgo my heartfelt thanks for counsel, trust, and their special love. I am also grateful to Abbot Cletus Meagher, OSB, at St. Bernards Monastery, for his love and counsel.

Finally, I thank God for my sweet and beautiful childrenKristin Julie, Eric, Theresa, and Evan Philip, and their love and patience. And I embrace John and Kathleen Curley and my beautiful wife to be Maureen Curley, Gods greatest gift to me, with prayers and love for all our new tomorrows.

January 2001