Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

“She Never Yet Was Foolish That Was Fair”: Whiteness As Erasure In William Shakespeare’S Othello, Kathryn Croft

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

The Bard’S Precursors To Psychology: Exposing Dark Sides Of Human Nature, Rebecca Parsons '23

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

“Strumpet,” “Huswife,” “Whore”: Centering Othello’S Bianca, Phoebe Merten

English (MA) Theses

Is Bianca a sex worker? What meanings change if she is or isn’t? Not enough artistic or critical attention has been paid the character. It seems likely that the initial lack of attention stemmed from Bianca’s status as a purported sex worker, as though this makes her somehow categorically different from the other women in the play, or inherently less interesting. There has in the past decade or so been a marked increase in scholarship on sex work, but this too largely skims over Bianca, likely because of the ambiguity surrounding her profession.

In my introduction I go over some …

Teaching Titus Andronicus In Order To Re-Examine Shakespeare's Evolution Of The Tragic Form, Joanne E. Gates

Presentations, Proceedings & Performances

This paper revisits classroom strategies of two decades ago and the conference presentation that developed from them. Critics have come to regard Shakespeare's early tragedy Titus Andronicus as more than an early and inferior drama or one whose excess of violence makes it flawed. The early play merits attention for its insights in how Shakespeare evolved to write his mature tragedies Hamlet and Othello. A class in the Early Plays of Shakespeare (EH 403) usually studies the mature tragedies early in the semester, then revisits them with more insight after coverage of Titus Andronicus. Central to classroom debate is …

Knowing The World: Shakespeare On Travel In As You Like It And Othello, David Summers

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Othello As A Domestic Tragedy: Marriage And Moral Extremism, Sophie A. Miller

Global Tides

The dehumanization of female characters in Othello by viewing them through antiquated and dichotomous views of women and female morality is a major factor in the play's tragic ending. These women exist in the context of changing marriage customs that came along with changes in government and religious structures of authority. Through Iago's influence, Othello comes to shift from the more modern companionate view of marriage into an outdated patriarchal model. The play is one of many Early Modern Dramas examining marriage but does not fit in with Patient Griselda plays or with domestic tragedies in which unfaithful wives are …

Dyed In Mummy: The Stratford Festival’S Modern Orientalist Approach To Shakespeare’S Othello, Daisy E. Lupa

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Counterfactuals And Prefactuals In Shakespeare: Understanding The Human Mind And Human Behavior Through The Literary Analysis Of Conditional Mental Simulation Thoughts In The Narratives Of Plays, Cierra R. Cowan

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Monstrosity As A Problem Of Moral Proximity In Shakespeare’S Othello, Kyle Ward

Student Works

Abstract

In Othello, Shakespeare explores the idea of monstrosity through his titular character. This paper argues that Othello exemplifies the idea that monstrosity is not an inherent evil, but rather that it is a problem of Moral Proximity. The Problem of Moral Proximity, as it is explained in the paper, is the idea that good and evil are the moderation of or corruption of neutral traits. This paper not only argues that monstrosity is one of these neutral qualities, but also explores how Iago corrupts this monstrosity to bring about Othello's downfall.

Desdemona's Dildo: Fetish Objects And Transitional Sex In Othello, Perry Guevara

Early Modern Culture

No abstract provided.

Jewel, Purse, Trash: Reckoning And Reputation In Othello, Laura Kolb

Publications and Research

This article offers an analysis of Shakespeare’s Othello alongside arithmetic textbooks for merchants and soldiers. It argues that Othello dramatizes a problem that also haunts the pages of these math books: the problem of calculating the value of persons in a society where new forms of commercial credit were unsettling traditional notions of worth grounded in status, military prowess and sexual purity. Othello’s loss of faith in his wife and the disintegration of his sense of self both depend on Iago’s manipulation of two competing models of reputation: one based on martial valor and sexual purity (reputation as honor) and …

Shakespeare: The Mirror Of The Human Soul, Sarah Lynnette Davis

Honors Theses

Shakespeare is one of the most popular playwrights of all time. Even during his own life time, Shakespeare experienced tremendous popularity that has lasted hundreds of years. Perhaps no one has said it better than Shakespeare's own contemporary Ben Johnson:

He was not of an age, but for all time! And all the Muses still were in their prime, When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm! Nature herself was proud of his designs, And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines! Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit, …

Othello's "Malignant Turk" And George Manwaring's "A True Discourse": The Cultural Politics Of A Textual Derivation, Imtiaz Habib

English Faculty Publications

A critique is presented of the play "Othello" by William Shakespeare, focusing on a reference from Othello's final speech to an incident in Aleppo, Syria that the author attributes to the manuscript essay "A True Discourse" by George Manwaring, a companion of English adventurer Sir Anthony Sherley. Early 17th century British history, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and Queen Elizabeth I are mentioned, as well as references in the works to Turks and the censorship of English literature.

Reputation: A Destructive Force, Srisha Kotlo '14

2012 Fall Semester

In Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, a soldier “[seeks] the bubble reputation even in the cannon’s mouth” (“Shakespeare”). Shakespeare portrays reputation as a bubble because just as bubbles are fragile and can pop at any moment, a man’s reputation is delicate and can be lost in an instant. Reputation and prestige are highly valued by characters in many stories and plays. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Cassio and Othello strive to preserve notable reputations while Iago intends to use reputation as a tool for manipulation, and as the play unfolds they get exceedingly desperate to defend their reputations. This …

Rape And The Feminine Response In Early Modern England And Several Shakespearean Works, David Alexander Bernard

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Oral Narrative And Disembodied Language In Othello And Hamlet, Michael Ferut

Gateway Prize for Excellent Writing

No abstract provided.

"This Rough Magic:" Imagination, Resurrection, And The Dream World Crisis In Shakespearean Tragedy, Rachel A. Selvin

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis, I explored the relationship between Shakespearean tragedy and romance, specifically how each genre treated themes regarding resurrection and the imagination. In romance, I discovered that the imagination became a portal to reality--a way through which characters understood and accepted impermanence, decay, and death. I used romance to illuminate tragedy's failures, showing that in both King Lear and Othello the imagination acts as a mask against the real. I called these imaginative spaces “dream worlds”--fantastical plains in which characters chased their impossible longings for eternity and perfected romantic love. This refusal to engage with the real, I concluded, …

Tragic Pleasure In Shakespeare's King Lear And Othello, Luella Fu

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis is an examination of reader or audience response to Shakespeare’s tragedies. Primarily, it identifies key pleasures that Shakespeare’s King Lear and Othello offer. The complementary nature of these two plays is such that the analysis of their various pleasures allows for an in-depth treatment of the topic and also reflects the diversity of emotional response elicited by Shakespeare’s tragedies. The kinds of pleasure addressed in this study are catharsis as explained by Aristotle, the delight of violent passion as advocated by DuBos, pleasure from details in the work, satisfaction from the coherence of the tragedy, and pleasure in …

English Ethnicity And Race In Early Modern Drama, By Mary Floyd-Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 (Book Review), Imtiaz Habib

English Faculty Publications

The article reviews the book "English Ethnicity and Race in Early Modern Drama," by Mary Floyd-Wilson.