Othello (New Folger Library Shakespeare)
by William Shakespeare
List Price:
Our Price: $4.94
You Save: $5.01 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.86 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: William ShakespeareEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-07-27
ISBN: 0743482824
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Othello (New Folger Library Shakespeare)
Book Review: Ontological emptiness & jealousy...
Summary: 5 Stars
"Othello" is Shakespeare's most painful and poetic play. In the foreground is the theme of ontological emptiness, the feeling of having been passed over or no longer existing in the place where one's identity has been defined and stored up. Having been passed over by his war-god Othello, Iago's sense of injured merit expresses itself not only in a calculating and violent plan for revenge but in a vast insecurity about his own "place." He imagines both Othello and Cassio with his wife, while the latter is targeted for termination because "he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes mine ugly." The noble Moor is an alien in Venice, suspected because of his race, unsteadily accepted due to his capable and proven soldiership, who finds an anchor in his love for Desdemona. Desdemona's suspected sexual impurity is experienced by him as a complete annihilation of his identity which he had projected unto Desdemona (he even refers to her as "my fair warrior"). When he feels that she is no longer loyal to him his psychic wounding is like that of Iago's - "Othello's occupation's gone!" and "chaos has come again!" Iago and Othello can not be fully understood without each other. They both suffer from the same malady.
This projection of identity into others has ramifications for how women are viewed in the play. Cassio experiences no hesitation in referring to his lover Bianca as a whore (she denies this to Emilia) while simultaneously refusing to engage with Iago in any lewd talk about Desdemona. Graham Bradshaw argues that Desdemona dies a virgin. I think this likely (she asks Emilia to place her wedding sheets on the bed the night that she dies). When Othello commits suicide he executes himself as an enemy of the state in a startling attempt to re-instate himself into the society which his supposed cuckolding has alienated him from. I believe that the following is the central passage in the play:
Had it pleased heaven
To try me with affliction; had they rain'd
All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head.
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips,
Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes,
I should have found in some place of my soul
A drop of patience: but, alas, to make me
A fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his slow unmoving finger at!
Yet could I bear that too; well, very well:
But there, where I have garner'd up my heart,
Where either I must live, or bear no life;
The fountain from the which my current runs,
Or else dries up; to be discarded thence!
Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads
To knot and gender in! Turn thy complexion there,
Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubin,--
Ay, there, look grim as hell!
Act IV, Scene II, lines 57 - 74
"Othello" ranks with "Macbeth" as the play containing Shakespeare's greatest poetry. I cannot read it without bringing to mind Paul Robeson's booming voice, mellifluous delivery and his powerful presence. It ranks alongside "King Lear" and "Macbeth" as one of the greatest treasures of dramatic literature.
Summary of Othello (New Folger Library Shakespeare)
? Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
? Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
? Scene-by-scene plot summaries
? A key to famous lines and phrases
? An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language
? An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
? Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books
Essay by Susan Snyder
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.
British & Irish Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in British & Irish Books
Wesker Plays (Penguin plays & screenplays)by Arnold Wesker
Penguin UK; Published: 1999-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.95
Plays Pleasantby Bernard Shaw
Penguin Books; Published: 1988; Paperback; Book
By the Open Sea (Penguin Classics)by August Strindberg
Penguin Classics; Published: 1987-06-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.95
The Complete Plays (Penguin Classics)by Christopher Marlowe
Penguin Classics; Published: 1969-12-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
French Poetry, The Penguin Book of: 1820-1950, Dual Language Edition; with Prose Translations (Classics) (French Edition)by Various
Penguin Classics; Published: 1991-01-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Center Stage 3 LSTP Package w/ Self-study CD-ROM (20th Century Interpretations)by Samuela Eckstut, Lynn Bonesteel
Pearson ESL; Published: 2008-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $42.99
Price in other shops:
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Audio Cassette Set (4 Cassettes) (New Cambridge Shakespeare Audio)by William Shakespeare, Naxos AudioBooks
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1997-11-28; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $15.95
Price in other shops:
Shakespeareby Michael Wood
Basic Books; Published: 2003-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.41
Price in other shops:
Women Beware Women: And Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics)by Thomas Middleton
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.46
Price in other shops:
Cymbeline (Oxford Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-07-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $98.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Antony and Cleopatra (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2004-12-21; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
Titus Andronicus (New Folger Library Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005-02-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.65
Price in other shops:
The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2009-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.86
Price in other shops:
Measure for Measure (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005-06-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.93
Price in other shops:
Twelfth Night (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005-07-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops:
The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2010-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
King Lear (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2004-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.59
Price in other shops:
The Tempest (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2004-06-22; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.86
Price in other shops:
Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2003-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.86
Price in other shops:
Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)by William Shakespeare
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2003-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.40
Price in other shops: