Understanding Othello : a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Understanding Othello : a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents
(The Greenwood Press "Literature in context" series)
Greenwood Press, 2000
Available at / 22 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Although Othello has been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, its performance history has been marked with risk and tension because of the play's focus on racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality. The controversies surrounding conflicting attitudes toward race and religion, love and marriage, and war and the military in Shakespeare's time are reflected in the tragic plot and thematic ambiguities of Othello. This interdisciplinary casebook is designed to help students and their teachers explore the historical and modern issues related to the play. By combining primary documents with commentary, this guide considers many theatrical, cultural, social, and political concerns at the core of Othello. A literary analysis chapter addresses such topics as the nature of tragedy, the source of the play, and the richness of Othello's language, imagery, and thematic patterns. Three chapters on historical context consider attitudes toward race, love and marriage, and the role of the military in Shakespeare's time, revealing some of the social and political controversies reflected in Othello. A discussion of performance and interpretation traces the ways that changing cultural values and artistic expectations have affected the popularity and interpretation of Othello on stage, in film, and in literary criticism over the centuries. A final chapter on contemporary applications expands the focus of discussion to explore how Othello might reflect and challenge perspectives on contemporary stories, including both factual events recorded in newspaper headlines and fictional plots drawn from a variety of storylines in literature.
Primary documents include excerpts from Renaissance travel journals, Elizabethan marriage and military conduct books, dramatic criticism and actors' journals, poetry, fiction, and recent newspaper articles and editorials relating to the trials of O. J. Simpson and the Unabomber. Numerous suggestions for written assignments, oral discussion, and further readings offer additional practical and creative ideas for examining the diverse topics of Othello.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Dramatic Analysis
Historical Context: Race and Religion
Historical Context: Love and Marriage
Historical Context: War and the Military
Performance and Interpretation
Contemporary Applications
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"