Othello (Vol. 35) | Marilyn French (essay date 1981)
Marilyn French (essay date 1981)
SOURCE: "The Late Tragedies: Othello," in Shakespeare's Division of Experience, 1981, pp. 204-19.
[In the excerpt below, French centers on Othello and Iago in her examination of masculine values and behavior, focusing in particular on their relation to women and feminine qualities.]
Nowhere in Shakespeare are relations between males and females more searchingly, painfully probed. Othello is the last play in which this occurs; with it, the concerns that are central in Comedy of Errors, Taming, Much Ado, and All's Well are finally laid to rest.
The dominant culture of the play is that of Venice, which is shown here as similar to the Venice of Merchant, but in a more positive light. Venice is worldly, powerful, moneyed, and mannered. It is not just a place but an influence, and its mores are implanted in all the characters, even in those who, like Othello and Cassio,...
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