Customer Reviews

Othello : Complete and Unabridged

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

To read Shakespeare presents the reader with a dilemma and he either gets into the play and the personalities as the author presents them, in his realism as he understands their psychology, which is a world away from the soap operas and film world, and you may agree or disagree with the ancient playwrights view. Here we are in the ancient world
a city, as an existence unto itself. The city prospers it needs to be defended raise money and so on and so
fourth and functions almost like a country..here we have the moorish othello in to defend the nation, the city of Venice, and the ancient politics of Rome with its senate and republican system of government seems to have fascinated Shakespeare in a different way from his own nations history, and he often plays these stories, from a history drawn from his own sources, but its the characters he creats, the poems, the love, virtue, lust, fall from grace, debauchery and all this exists within a christian world. Some live to the heights of the ancient christian view, perfections or virtues and others live lives of privation, or deprivation..Othello is one of his best and among all the stress and strain of being a battlefield commander lies the heartache of his attempt to realize love and his thought hes been cuckolded. That is the drama..adultery not only as a fact, but more succinctly his love does not love him anymore in thought..her love is elsewhere..and DEsdemona is on eof his most beautifully realized creations and she comes off best radiant in her defense a s a christian woman of the middle ages slandered, and abused in aa cutthroat world. "let heaven and men and angels let them all.cry"(p 87)..at the break up of a loving relationship much more than any concern for marriage. The whole of creation mourns..as God's work being frustrated.
Othello believing he's cuckolded laments as a military man "yet she must die,else she'll betray more men..light restore"(p 81)..the idea of restoration, a better world without the betrayor or betrayed. IN defense DEsdemona complains "I am a christian"..a common defense for the religious in the middle ages, and women accused by men, whose bond to a god above assured their loyalty to men below. THe men who sew the ideas in Othello's mind, of DEsdemona's infidelity know otherwise.."what an eye she has..perffection."(p 30)..and eyes are frequent topics of description in this beautiful play and Desdemona shines as well as the frailty of Othello, a man not capable to trust and perhaps to enter into love with his cherished Desdemona..and the many around them jealous of the love he has, seeking to destroy his relationship, as a way of destroying everything about him, but that to is a theory and theories have no place in works of art they should be enjoyed for the drama and take from it what one.."our wills are gardeners..weed up"(p 18).."lust of the blood..will come..moors are changeable in their wills..cuckhold him..pleasure..sport"..the characters in Shakespeare the ones who show grandeur have strong wills, imposing themselves on their surroundings, at times models of virtues..or they fall..and what is the reason in these finely chiselled out portraits that makes them be the people they are..great tragedy..

Othello, comes out as a man wronged and tried to right a wrong and the only way in those days was by murder most foul, but it is the way of that world.

I never thought I would ever like to read Shakespear but after reading Othello I have been roped in. Now I want to read more works. I enjoy this book a great deal and will enjoy reading it for many years to come.

Can't complain about the price, but the cover illustration is wrong (wrong publisher), there are no 'notes, 'sources', 'index' and too many more to mention, and the book is 92 pages, not 469+ (as according to 'Click to look...' nor 112 as stated in the product description section). Why do you show me the 2006 Oxford University Press edition if that's not what you're selling me? The fact that you mention you're showing me another edition of the book does not make this any less misleading.

This full-cast dramatic recording of a classic Shakespeare takes the entire text and dramatizes the presentation, which results in a package capturing the excitement of both live play and written word. Audio listeners will enjoy the results; especially the pairing with classical music.

This play embodies tragedy, and may be my favorite play by Shakes. Othello has wonderful elements - some of the most unbearable and longest dramatic irony of any play, a devilish villain whose true motives we are left to guess, a virtuous but flawed protagonist, the triumph of evil over good. Othello is a gut-wrenching play and should be appreciated for its sheer dramatic energy and passion. Certainly other questions are explored - such as the issue of racial insecurities even in a successful and admired man among prejudiced people. However, perhaps the most important things to take out of it is the sheer evil that Iago spreads around him, puppeteering the good characters with strings of wickedness.

The recent Naxos AudioBook entry in their Classic Drama Series, <Othello> NA 320612), is so well directed by David Timson that it fairly boils along. Granted that some passages are read a bit too swiftly to be followed by those without texts open before them, but one gets the feeling that this is a play and not a 400 year old monument. There are moments, however, when one could use some extra noises-on, so to speak. When Iago gets Cassio drunk, a little more rowdiness from extras would be appropriate--but perhaps I am spoiled by too many film versions and certainly by the full chorus in Verdi's opera.

Hugh Quarshie makes a more interesting Othello than a great one. He does not have that Paul Robeson voice that one tends to associate with the role, and he understands the part light years better than the Othello of that unfortunate film version a few years back. But his lightweight approach does not work when the mouth-filling flights of poetry make their demands after he is convinced of Desdamona's infidelity.

Anton Lesser also makes a fine but not great impression as Iago. Perhaps he needs to use more variety of delivery when he is being "honest" with the other characters. After all, his approach to Othello should not be in the same key as that to Roderigo or even to Cassio. Iago is a supreme actor, so it takes an equally supreme one to play him.

For once, we can hear Emilia (Patience Tomlinson) hesitate when she speaks of the "lost" handkerchief; although on a sound recording she cannot give us the body-language to explain why she betrays her lady for the sake of her husband. The Cassio (Roger May) is very good in the handkerchief scene with Iago and the hidden, miscomprehending Othello.

The running time is just over 3 hours, 11 minutes longer than the venerable Shakespeare Recording Society with Frank Silvera as Othello and Cyril Cusack as Iago, now available on Harper Audio. There still might be available a very dull version with Richard Johnson and Ian Holm, but avoid it.

I think that as the author explained in the intro the original is hard to understand due to the venacular at use. The author took the story and munipulated it to fit the style of our times. He did this well and kept the story captivating and uses actual words for the story. He also eases the reader by making it a novel with inside feelings and thoughts which are harder to comprehend in play form. Its a great book to read. I recommend it for anyone that has ever had to read shakespeare and not completly understood what they were reading.

"Othello" is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, but even the best of things could use a little updating once in a while. That's why I was so excited when I found out about the comic book version. It is the play, the whole play, and nothing but the play, made easier for the layman to understand with interesting contemporary art.

Othello is now one of my favorite Shakesperean plays, right behind Romeo and Juliet. The play contains many universal themes which could be applied to life today, such as jealousy and revenge. The book is sad at the end, but it is very well-written and is effective in evoking emotions in the reader. I recommend this book for anyone who has to read a Shakesperean play or for anyone who wants to read a good book.