Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)

by William Shakespeare
Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)  
published January 1st 2004 by Washington Square Press
first published 1604
binding Paperback
isbn 0743477553   (isbn13: 9780743477550)
pages 368
description Folger Shakespeare Library

The world's leading center for Shakespeare studies

Each edition includes:

• Freshly edited text based on ...more

date added
12-18-06



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Othello & Titus Andronicus 1 4 03/09/2008 07:23AM
othello-tragedy 1 1 11/26/2007 05:06AM

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 12018)



Yeshua
Yeshua rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
04/29/08

Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?
-Othello, end of Act V

When I was about 9 years old, I put a healthy, live mouse into my parents' microwave oven. It was a summer day and I was all alone. I had this devilish feeling inside me. I knew it was wrong, but I had to do it. I grabbed a kitchen chair, dragged it across the floor, stood on it, opened the door, and threw the mouse in. Then I hit start.

At first it was no big deal. The light turne...more
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  5 comments

Corinne
Corinne rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/13/08

bookshelves: the-nook-book-club
Read in June, 2008
This goes without saying: it's a tragic story. Othello is a quintessential tragic figure, falling prey to the lies and deceits of his inferior officer Iago, who convinces Othello that his wife, Desdemona is unfaithful. The jealousy and rage that result from Othello's belief that Desdemona is having an affair with his right hand man (Cassio) leads to numerous innocents being maimed and killed. I sorta figured it would end up that way somehow :)

At the crux of this story is Iago - the lying and...more
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Anna
Anna rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/04/08

Read in May, 2008
Othello, written by William Shakespeare, was a tragedy not unlike other Shakespearean plays. Nearly everyone dies, and the deaths could have all been prevented if it hadn't been for misunderstandings, jealousy and revenge.

This theme of misunderstanding, or "don't believe everything you hear" centers mostly around Iago, the villian. He is mad that Othello has appointed Michael Cassio to a leutenant position in the army, even though Iago has more experience. Iago decides to get back...more
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Russell
Russell rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/13/08

Read in March, 2007
Just finished reading this and it ended different than I expected. I was forewarned by others of its tragic finish, but I wasn't prepared as I thought. Othello's final statements were intriguing, I had a hard time understanding his character's motives throughout the play. He seemed incredibly trusting of Iago, defying common sense in my opinion. The play is rife with Iago's cunning evil and his two-faced acts and communication. What a hoser, he really bothered me.

Iago: "Good name in man...more
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Gina
Gina rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/14/08

Read in April, 2007
We read this book in my 11th grade English class, and I adored with a passion. I had read only one other work by Shakespeare before Othello – Romeo and Juliet – and I wasn’t extraordinarily impressed by it… especially since our teacher was less than enthusiastic about it. Othello, however, was amazing. I read it over and over and quoted it for weeks – it really gave me an appreciation for Shakespeare that I never got from Romeo and Juliet. Since reading Othello I’ve read several othe...more
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Ferret
Ferret rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/05/07

bookshelves: shakespeare
Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2007
I have this sense that Othello operates at a higher plane than other Shakespearean plays. Hamlet is brilliant, but its plot is entirely conventional. Iago's manipulations obviate any real interest in the plot- instead, the reasons for the plot and the mechanisms moving the plot are the automatic focus of attention. And while this interests me, it kind of takes away some of my enjoyment of it. As far as the plot goes, there's no there, there.

Mark insists that Iago is making it ...more
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  1 comments

rachel
rachel rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/12/07

bookshelves: must-reads
recommended to rachel by: personal goal - all shakespeare
recommends it for: anyone
i have read "othello" twice and it is easily my favorite shakespeare play thus far (i've read about 15 as of august 2007). the characters in this book make you feel love, pity, hate, jealousy, sorrow, anguish, and disappointment, just to name a few. (if nothing else, shakespeares creation of iago alone is worth the read--could you possibly make a better villain?) the set-up of the plot is genius and the way it is carried out by the characters is so tragically believable you begin to...more
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jacky
jacky rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/29/07

bookshelves: classroom-library, college, movie, own, plays, shakespeare
Read in January, 2001
Othello would be my favorite Shakespeare play. I like it better than some of the others because the story seems less cliche now I guess. I also enjoy the complexity of how Iago, the villain, doesn't have a reason to get Othello; he just does it. I also like how all the pieces come together in Iago's plan. I wrote a paper on Othello in college investigating the female roles, and that was really interesting to me. So, overall, Othello to me seems to have a lot of directions to take it in, but...more
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Renee
Renee rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
01/21/08

Read in January, 2008
recommends it for: Shakespeare Fans
"Othello" wasn't too bad, which is shocking to me because ususally I have to scrape and struggle through Shakespeare . . . But of course that may have something to do with the fact that I read a "Side-By-Side" copy that had Shakespearian English on the left and "normal" English on the right. So I just had to read page 1, read the translated page 1, read page 2, read the translated page 2.

It went by much faster than I might have thought and I actually enjoyed ce...more
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Jake
Jake rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/27/07

Read in March, 2006
I always knew the story, but never got around to actually sitting down and reading this play until senior year when I took Shakespearean Tragedy. What an incredible piece of work. The subtlety with which Iago manipulates and twists characters against each other is fascinating to watch and while some less intelligent readers may like to see him as a study in evil, I think there are very real motivations at work here. Is he gay and in love with Othello? Is he angered for being passed up for a ...more
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Tricia
Tricia rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
07/06/08

Read in July, 2008
I haven't read Shakespeare since high school--sad but true. I'm glad that Corinne's book group decided to read Shakespeare though, because I think it is good for me to get out of my comfort zone every once in awhile, especially reading a tragedy!

Iago is Othello's right hand man, and is jealous that he was passed up for promotion by Cassio. Iago decides to get back at Othello by making him believe that Othello's new wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with Cassio. I seriously wanted to st...more
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Pamela
Pamela rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
06/28/07

bookshelves: shakespeare
Even though I ultimately opted to write my thesis on "Antony and Cleopatra", this play is certainly the second-most favorite of my Shakespeare plays (the first being Hamlet) and its namesake is my favorite Shakespeare character. So many complexities in Othello's personality, transitioning from tenderness to jealous rage, we can learn so many important lessons from this man's journey about race relations, gender relations and how so quickly our tides can turn if we do not act in just an...more
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Chris
Chris rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/07/08

Read in March, 2008
"Bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!"

That's Hamlet the Slow Avenger ranting about Claudius, but the same and bolder could be said of Iago. I know he's the vilest of Shakespeare's villains--which would place him high in the running for vilest world-wide--but at some point those just become words. It's the page-by-page visceral experience of watching him secrete his evil that makes my blood boiul. As I reread this, I wanted to throw the b...more
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Briynne
Briynne rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/12/07

Iago has got to be one of the most truly evil characters ever written. Not only does he create the chaos, jealous, and madness that leads to so many deaths - he revels in it. This is one of the most tragic tragedies, in that you never really have any hope. It's doomed from the beginning, not like Romeo and Juliet where you appreciate their affair all the more for it, but in a way that makes you miserable. As the audience, you see Iago's manipulations and his envy; all you want is for the res...more
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Jennyanydots
Jennyanydots rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/19/08

Read in August, 2008
othello. well, i can safely add this play to my litany of tear-inducing literature. what i love about this particular play is that the characters are so compelling. desdemona isn't some snivelling, platonic hausfrau; she's naive, but smart, and she's refreshingly independent. othello is this colossol matisse of a person - at times larger than life, at times painfully intimate. his downfall just really hurts. as for iago - i really don't buy all that 'inhuman demon/motiveless villain' crap. i ric...more
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Michelle
Michelle rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/05/08

Read in July, 2008
recommended to Michelle by: AP Lit
The more Shakespeare I read, the more I realize that it is all the same. Really. All of it. The same.

There were a lot of the same things in Othello that my teacher pointed out in class when we were reading Macbeth and Julius Caesar. It's silly almost. You know exactly what is happening because it's the same story that you've already read.

I mean, not to say that I don't appreciate it. I do. And also in this one there is the added element of racial tension, which is an interesting ...more
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Ty'shauna
Ty'shauna added it
06/07/07

Read in February, 2006
recommends it for: High Schoolers
Having the Deception of Friends and being Heart-Broken, is what your going to be feeling when you read this play. Although it's set in a modern time it has an affect on the 21st Century way of living. Even though it's fulfilled with all the qualities of life that every human being is going through at this very moment it just has a shock on you. Othello the protagonist is having the deception of his "Good" friend Iago but all things turn from good to Bad when the big Climax is upon the ...more
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Krissy
Krissy rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
10/08/07

Read in July, 2000
recommends it for: Young adults on up
Hy husband and I are are actually currently reading this again together. Shakespeare is always fun to read aloud. Shakespeare's tragedies all seem to stem off the idea of one allowing his emotions to run away with him, whether it be pride, greed, lust, the desire for power, anger and revenge-- the characters all lose control of their senses. Interesting. The one thing that bugs me about the story is the way Shakespeare has EVERYONE constantly calling Iago "honest Iago." I would have...more
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Brianne
Brianne rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/04/08

Read in February, 2008
I thought Othello was the best Shakspeare play I've ever read. It was intriguing and fairly easy to follow on my own. Othello is a noble of a Venetian state and he is part of the army. He passes over Iago for a promotion so Iago plots to get back at him. Iago makes Othello think that his wife Desdemona is being unfaithful to him and is cheating on him with Cassio. Othello gets jealous and ends up killing Desdemona. Afterwards he finds out from Iago's wife Emilia that she was true to him. When he...more
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Margaret
Margaret rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
01/06/08

Read in January, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.95 (11560 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.94 (10067 ratings)
number of reviews: 333






other editions

Othello (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)
Othello (The Signet Classic Shakespeare)
Othello (Norton Critical Editions)











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