Othello (29 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
The collaborations with Fletcher suggest that Shakespeare’s career ended with a slow fade rather than the sudden retirement supposed by the nineteenth-century Romantic critics who read Prospero’s epilogue to
The Tempest
as Shakespeare’s personal farewell to his art. In the last few years of his life Shakespeare certainly spent more of his time in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he became further involved in property dealing and litigation. But his London life also continued. In 1613 he made his first major London property purchase: a freehold house in the Blackfriars district, close to his company’s indoor theater.
The Two Noble Kinsmen
may have been written as late as 1614, and Shakespeare was in London on business a little over a year before he died of an unknown cause at home in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616, probably on his fifty-second birthday.
About half the sum of his works were published in his lifetime, in texts of variable quality. A few years after his death, his fellow actors began putting together an authorized edition of his complete
Comedies, Histories and Tragedies
. It appeared in 1623, in large “Folio” format. This collection of thirty-six plays gave Shakespeare his immortality. In the words of his fellow dramatist Ben Jonson, who contributed two poems of praise at the start of the Folio, the body of his work made him “a monument without a tomb”:
And art alive still while thy book doth live
And we have wits to read and praise to give …
He was not of an age, but for all time!
| 1589–91 | ? Arden of Faversham (possible part authorship) |
| 1589–92 | The Taming of the Shrew |
| 1589–92 | ? Edward the Third (possible part authorship) |
| 1591 | The Second Part of Henry the Sixth , originally called The First Part of the Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster (element of co-authorship possible) |
| 1591 | The Third Part of Henry the Sixth , originally called The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York (element of co-authorship probable) |
| 1591–92 | The Two Gentlemen of Verona |
| 1591–92; perhaps revised 1594 | The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus (probably cowritten with, or revising an earlier version by, George Peele) |
| 1592 | The First Part of Henry the Sixth , probably with Thomas Nashe and others |
| 1592/94 | King Richard the Third |
| 1593 | Venus and Adonis (poem) |
| 1593–94 | The Rape of Lucrece (poem) |
| 1593–1608 | Sonnets (154 poems, published 1609 with A Lover’s Complaint , a poem of disputed authorship) |
| 1592–94/1600–03 | Sir Thomas More (a single scene for a play originally by Anthony Munday, with other revisions by Henry Chettle, Thomas Dekker, and Thomas Heywood) |
| 1594 | The Comedy of Errors |
| 1595 | Love’s Labour’s Lost |
| 1595–97 | Love’s Labour’s Won (a lost play, unless the original title for another comedy) |
| 1595–96 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
| 1595–96 | The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet |
| 1595–96 | King Richard the Second |
| 1595–97 | The Life and Death of King John (possibly earlier) |
| 1596–97 | The Merchant of Venice |
| 1596–97 | The First Part of Henry the Fourth |
| 1597–98 | The Second Part of Henry the Fourth |
| 1598 | Much Ado About Nothing |
| 1598–99 | The Passionate Pilgrim (20 poems, some not by Shakespeare) |
| 1599 | The Life of Henry the Fifth |
| 1599 | “To the Queen” (epilogue for a court performance) |
| 1599 | As You Like It |
| 1599 | The Tragedy of Julius Caesar |
| 1600–01 | The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (perhaps revising an earlier version) |
| 1600–01 | The Merry Wives of Windsor (perhaps revising version of 1597–99) |
| 1601 | “Let the Bird of Loudest Lay” (poem, known since 1807 as “The Phoenix and Turtle” [turtledove]) |
| 1601 | Twelfth Night, or What You Will |
| 1601–02 | The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida |
| 1604 | The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice |
| 1604 | Measure for Measure |
| 1605 | All’s Well That Ends Well |
| 1605 | The Life of Timon of Athens , with Thomas Middleton |
| 1605–06 | The Tragedy of King Lear |
| 1605–08 | ? contribution to The Four Plays in One (lost, except for A Yorkshire Tragedy , mostly by Thomas Middleton) |
| 1606 | The Tragedy of Macbeth (surviving text has additional scenes by Thomas Middleton) |
| 1606–07 | The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra |
| 1608 | The Tragedy of Coriolanus |
| 1608 | Pericles, Prince of Tyre , with George Wilkins |
| 1610 | The Tragedy of Cymbeline |
| 1611 | The Winter’s Tale |
| 1611 | The Tempest |
| 1612–13 | Cardenio , with John Fletcher (survives only in later adaptation called Double Falsehood by Lewis Theobald) |
| 1613 | Henry VIII (All Is True) , with John Fletcher |
| 1613–14 | The Two Noble Kinsmen , with John Fletcher |
CRITICAL APPROACHES
Calderwood, James L.,
The Properties of Othello
(1989). Theoretically informed account using the concept of “property” to explore different aspects of the play including historical, psychological, and linguistic.
Erickson, Peter, and Maurice Hunt, eds.,
Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare’s Othello
(2005). Useful review of resources and discussion of varied approaches.
Heilman, Robert,
Magic in the Web: Action and Language in Othello
(1956). Excellent analysis of patterns of imagery.
Honigmann, E. A. J.,
The Texts of “Othello” and Shakespearian Revision
(1996). Detailed account of the relationship between Folio and Quarto texts.
Loomba, Ania,
Shakespeare, Race, and Colonialism
(2002). Postcolonial reading on race and history of imperialism, includes excellent essay on
Othello
.
Muir, Kenneth, and Philip Edwards, eds.,
Aspects of Othello
(1977). Useful selection of articles reprinted from
Shakespeare Survey
.
Nostbakken, Faith,
Understanding Othello
(2000). Useful student casebook covering drama, context, and performance.
Orlin, Lena Cowen, ed.,
Othello
, New Casebook Series (2004). Useful selection of recent critical essays.
Pechter, Edward,
Othello and the Interpretive Traditions
(1999). Overview of critical approaches.
Potter, Nicholas, ed.,
William Shakespeare: Othello
(2000). Columbia Critical Guides series. Useful, detailed account of critical history.
Spivack, Bernard,
Shakespeare and the Allegory of Evil
(1958). Relates the role of Iago to the figure of Vice in medieval morality plays.
Vaughan, Virginia Mason,
Othello: A Contextual History
(1994). Excellent on play’s Jacobean contexts in Part I; Part II considers a range of historical performances.
Vaughan, Virginia Mason, and Kent Cartwright, eds.,
Othello: New Perspectives
(1991). Useful collection of varied essays on text, performance, and contemporary critical approaches.
Wain, John, ed.,
Shakespeare: Othello
:
A Casebook
(1971, revised 1994). Useful collection including important early essays.
THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE
Cook, Judith,
Women in Shakespeare
(1980). Useful chapter on tragic heroines includes Desdemona.
———,
Shakespeare’s Players
(1983). Chapter on “jealousy” includes discussion of Othello and Iago.
Hankey, Julie, ed.,
Othello: William Shakespeare,
Plays in Performance series (2005). Excellent detailed stage history with annotated play text.
Jackson, Russell, and Robert Smallwood, eds.,
Players of Shakespeare 2
(1988). Includes Ben Kingsley on Othello and David Suchet on Iago.
Parsons, Keith, and Pamela Mason,
Shakespeare in Performance
(1995). Useful overview of stage history and important historical productions.
Potter, Lois,
Othello, Shakespeare in Performance
(2002). Sophisticated account of stage history, including film versions.
Rosenberg, Marvin,
The Masks of Othello
(1961). Fascinating and detailed chronological account of the play in performance.
Sales, Roger, ed., “Bob Peck on Playing Iago,”
Shakespeare in Perspective, Volume Two
(1985).
Smallwood, Robert, ed.,
Players of Shakespeare 5
(2003). Includes Richard McCabe on playing Iago.
Tynan, Kenneth, ed.,
Othello, by William Shakespeare: The National Theatre Production
(1966). Detailed account of John Dexter’s 1964 National Theatre production with Laurence Olivier as Othello.
Vaughan, Virginia Mason,
Othello: A Contextual History
(1994). Part II considers a range of historical performances.
Vaughan, Virginia Mason, and Kent Cartwright, eds.,
Othello: New Perspectives
(1991). Useful collection of varied essays on text, performance, and contemporary critical approaches.
Wine, Martin,
Othello: Text and Performance
(1984). Basic overview of text with detailed account of important twentieth-century performances in Part 2.
AVAILABLE ON DVD
Othello
directed by Dmitri Buchowetzki (1922, DVD 2001). Interesting German silent film version with contrasting performance styles of Emil Jannings (Othello) and Werner Krauss (Iago).
A Double Life
directed by George Cukor (1947, DVD 2003). Adaptation updated to postwar New York with Ronald Colman, winner of Best Actor award for performance; Signe Hasso, Edmund O’Brien, Shelly Winters.
Othello
directed by Orson Welles (1952, DVD 1999). Bold, award-winning version with Welles himself as Othello, Michéal MacLiammoir as Iago, and Susan Cloutier as Desdemona, with typically adventurous cinematography. Welles made a film about the production,
Filming Othello
(1978).
Othello
directed by Sergei Yutkevich (1955, VHS 1992). Stunning Russian version—cast includes Sergei Bondarchuk (Othello), Irina Skobtseva (Desdemona), and Andrei Popov (Iago). Yutkevich won Best Director award at Cannes in 1956.
All Night Long
directed by Michael Relph, Basil Deardon (1961, DVD 2004). Adaptation described as “a wildly enjoyable 1961 British jazz version…that even considerately throws in that happy ending that Shakespeare forgot.”
Othello
directed by Stuart Burge (1965, DVD 2003). Film of John Dexter’s National Theatre production starring Laurence Olivier (Othello), Maggie Smith (Desdemona), Frank Finlay (Iago), and Joyce Redman (Emilia). Powerful: divided views about Olivier’s performance.
Othello
directed by Franklin Melton (1981, DVD 2001). Film of traditional stage version with Ron Moody (Iago), Jenny Agutter (Desdemona), and William Marshall (Othello).
Otello
directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1986, DVD 2005). Based on Giuseppe Verdi’s opera with Pl´cido Domingo as Otello, Katia Ricciarelli as Desdemona, and Justino Díaz as Jago—described as “powerful and full-blooded.”
Othello
directed by Janet Suzman (1988, DVD 2006). Filmed version of celebrated South African production staged at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, with John Kani, Richard Haines, and Joanna Weinberg.
Othello
directed by Trevor Nunn (1990, DVD 2003). Film of RSC production with Ian McKellen (Iago), Imogen Stubbs (Desdemona), Willard White (Othello), and Zoë Wanamaker (Emilia).
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
directed by Aida Ziablikova (1992, DVD 2005).
Othello
voiced by Alec McCowan, Michael Kitchen, Suzanne Burden; inventive 27-minute animated British/Russian coproduction with script by Leon Garfield, using a combination of Shakespeare’s text and narration.
Othello
directed by Oliver Parker (1995, DVD 2000). Overtly sexual production with Laurence Fishburne (Othello), Kenneth Branagh (Iago), and Irene Jacob (Desdemona); Branagh dominates as Iago.
“O”
directed by Tim Blake Nelson (2000, DVD 2002). A “clever and serious” adaptation set in an American high school with Mekhi Phifer and Julia Stiles.
Othello
directed by Geoffrey Sax (2001, DVD 2002). Updated TV version by Andrew Davies with John Othello as the first black commissioner of the Metropolitan Police with fine performances from Eamonn Walker (John Othello), Keeley Hawes (Dessie), and Christopher Eccleston (Ben Jago).