Othello’s Evil Side Essay -- Othello essays

Ot underworldos Evil Side In the Bard of Avons tragic drama Othello there is a very disquieting balance of the play this is the despicable dimension, which has such depth and intensity that it penetrates not further the mind but the body and soul of the audience. Even the imagery in the drama has its evil aspect. Kenneth Muir, in the Introduction to William Shakespeare Othello, explains the instances of diabolic imagery in the play as they relate to the infecting of the Moor by the ancient The akin transference from Iago to Othello may be observed in what S. L. Bethell called diabolic imagery. He estimated that of the 64 images relating to hell and damnation many of them are allusions rather than exigent images Iago has 18 and Othello 26. But 14 of Iagos are used in the first two Acts, and 25 of Othellos in the last three. The theme of hell originates with Iago and is transferred to Othello only when Iago has succeeded in infecting the Moor with his jealousy. (22) In his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean Tragedy, A. C. Bradley gives an in-depth analysis of the brand of evil which the ancient personifies Iago stands supreme among Shakespeares evil characters because the greatest intensity and subtlety of imagination have gone to his making, and because he illustrates in the most perfect combination the two facts concerning evil which seem to have impressed Shakespeare most. The first of these is the fact that perfectly sane multitude exist in whom fellow-feeling of any kind is so weak that an around absolute egoism becomes possible to them, and with it those hard vices such as ingratitude and cruelty which to Shakespeare were far the worst. The second is that such evil is... ...oduction. William Shakespeare Othello. New York Penguin Books, 1968. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http//www.eiu.edu/multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. Wayne, Valerie. Histori cal remnants Misogyny and Othello. The Matter of Difference Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press, 1991. Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada University of Toronto Press, 1957. Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. The engage Qualities of Othello. Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p. Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.