Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

This is the thread for the buddy read of Othello by William Shakespeare. We will only be using one thread for the discussion, so please beware of spoilers.

Have you already started? Is there a deadline?

Beta wrote: "Have you already started? Is there a deadline?"

No deadline. I believe most of us will start this week sometime. Hope you can join us.

I'd love to. Have never finished Othello since teenage years. Better hurry and grab a hard copy. Thank you!!

You can read Othello online for free on many sites. Here are a few links:

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/othello/fu...
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/pla...
http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/htm...

Othello (The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. It is based on the story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1604. The story revolves around four central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; his beloved wife, Desdemona; his loyal lieutenant, Cassio; and his ensign, Iago. Given its varied and enduring themes of racism, love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and repentance, Othello is still often performed in professional and community theatre alike, and has been the source for numerous operatic, film, and literary adaptations.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello

Kath, thank you for taking the time! I scored a gorgeous hardcover edition with the complete plays, on eBay. Looking forward to reading Othello again, and having readers to discuss it with. Cheers!

This one is tied for my favorite Shakespeare play. I've seen it multiple times.


I might read the original source (Or translation of it, anyway) like I did with Merchant of Venice.

Hi, guys! I'm joining in the buddy read beginning today.
I have been wanting to read this for a long time and am so happy to see a buddy read after my group nomination of this failed twice. :-)))

I voted for it twice, and I can start today also I hope.

I'll watch over the weekend, as I have it recorded and waiting to watch, though I can't remember right now who's in the production. Then I'll read it early next week :)

I'm jumping ahead a bit and I went ahead and read the original source material for this play as well.

This one is from "Disdemona and the Moor", found in Cinthio's Hecatommithi.
You can read it here: http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu...

Once again, it Shakespeare seems to stick really close to his source material.
(view spoiler)[
Disdemona falls in love with a Moor (Othello). Her parents object and try to get her to choose someone else, but she loves him and marries them against her wishes (though no elopement).

The major players in the story depart for Cypress, where the Moor has been made a commander of a troop. The Moor is a bit hesitant to subject Disdemona to the danger of the voyage, but she insists that they love each other too much to be parted for so long, and he agrees.

One of the company is a Captain - who is in great favor with the Moor - and Disdemona shows him favor just because she knows how much her husband values him.

An evil Ensign (Iago) is part of the troop, and he's brought his wife (Emilia), who is good company for Disdemona. The Ensign is obsessed with Disdemona, and tries to woo her secretly. But Disdemona is so devoted to her husband that she doesn't realize this and barely even notices the Ensign. The Ensign believes that the reason he's been rejected is that Disdemona must be in love with the Captain - and thus, vows revenge on both Disdemona and the Captain - the first for rejecting him, the second for stealing his love.

The Captain gets into a brawl and injures a guard, and is demoted. Disdemona is upset by this, and tries to get her husband and the Captain to reconcile.

The Moor complains to the Ensign that his wife is taking the Captains part, and the Ensign uses this to hint that there's something between the two, and refuses to say more. After, when Disdemona brings up the Captain again, she and the Moor have a huge argument.

The Moor returns to the Ensign and asks for more details, and the Ensign says that they're having an affair and that Disdemona is rejecting the Moor because she's bored of his blackness. The Moor is enraged, but demands that the Ensign produce some proof of his allegations.

The Ensign uses one of Disdemona's visits with his wife & kids to pick-pocket an embroidered handkerchief, which he plants in the Captain's bed.

The Captain finds it a day or two later, and is baffled. He tries to return it, sneaking in the back door when he knew the Moor wasn't home. However, before he could give it back, the Moor returns unexpectedly, and the Captain flees before he's caught. However, the Moor realizes that he's interrupted something and takes this as proof of the affair - and accuses Disdemona of entertaining the Captain, though Disdemona knows nothing of the Captain's visit.

The Moor returns to the Ensign - who confirms that she and the Captain meet when the Moor is away from home - and suggests the missing handkerchief of proof.

The Moor returns home, demands to see the handkerchief, and of course, Disdemona can't produce it. The Moor starts thinking about how he can kill Disdemona and the Captain without getting caught.

The Moor goes back to the Ensign, and demands further proof - he wants to see the handkerchief in the Captain's possession. Unfortunately, one of the Captain's servants has the handkerchief at this point, and is sitting at the window, attempting to replicate some of the embroidery work. The Ensign and the Moor peer in the window, see Disdemona's handkerchief, and the Moor is completely convinced.

The Moor asks the Ensign to kill the Captain for him. The Ensign attacks the Captain at night, and cuts off his leg in the first blow, but is not able to kill the Captain before he calls for help - at which point, the Ensign flees, but then returns, pretending he's responding to the Captain's yells. The Captain survives the attack, but has lost his leg and is ill.

The Moor and the Ensign conspire again - this time, on how to kill Disdemona. The Ensign suggest to beat Disdemona to death, then to collapse the ceiling on her to fake an accident. The Moor agrees, and stands back and watches as the Ensign kills Disdemona, then they collapse the ceiling. Everyone believes their ruse, and they get away with it.

Eventually, the Moor is overcome by guilt and despair, and he has a falling out with the Ensign. The Ensign then goes to the Captain, who has survived his injury, and accuses the Moor of both the amputation and of Disdemona's murder - and explains how it is done.

The Moor is arrested for murder and is tortured during questioning, but never confesses and is released but banished. However, Disdemona's family eventually catch up to him and kill him in revenge.

The Ensign never gets caught for Disdemona's murder, but he's eventually involved in another crime, and as part of the questioning for that one, he's tortured to death.

The Ensign's wife knows the whole story, but was too scared of her husband to warn Disdemona and the Moor, and too scared to reveal the story until after the husband's death.

(hide spoiler)]

So, very close to Othello. Some differences, of course. But it seemed closer than Merchant of Venice's source material.

Desdemona's the only named character in the original story. Othello is known only by his race and everyone else is known by their military ranks. There are also far fewer characters and co-conspirators, which makes the plot a little simpler.

Second, Iago's motivations are complete different. (view spoiler)[In the play, he's upset that Cassio got promoted over him, where in the original story, he is obsessed with Disdemona and assumes the Captain is why he can't have her. That adds an additional love-triangle component, I think. (hide spoiler)] (Spoilers for Act 1.)

Third, I think Shakespeare plays up Othello's otherness a bit more. It's mentioned a few times in the original story, but Shakespeare adds more dramatic tension (view spoiler)[ accusations of sorcery, fights between Disdemona's family and Othello, etc. (hide spoiler)] (Spoilers for Act 1) Racial tensions are mostly subtext in the original story rather than explicit accusations.

And last, (view spoiler)[ in Shakespeare's version, it seems a crime of passion - a spur of the moment murder, which is then repented of so greatly that Othello commits suicide. In the original story, it's coldly calculated murder and a planned cover up. And though he repents, he never confesses, even under torture. There's no suicide - instead, he's murdered by his former in-laws. (hide spoiler)] (Spoilers for the ending)

I think I'll join you on this venture! I don't really like reading Shakespeare but I think I need to have read his major plays. So when I saw that you were doing a buddy-read, I decided that I needed to do it! So I've read Scenes I & II of Act I. I think I'm understanding it so far, need to get a little further into it though. Maybe I can read some of your comments and be able to keep up! Thanks for your encouragement!

Melanti wrote: "I'm jumping ahead a bit and I went ahead and read the original source material for this play as well.

This one is from "Disdemona and the Moor", found in Cinthio's Hecatommithi.
You can read it he..."

Good comments and explanations! Thanks!

I'm hoping to get in on this one too. Got the book from the library. Hope to start soon.

Finally back to normal. Hope to read this later today.

I attempted to watch this today, but I really didn't like the production or actors (it was a 2014 Globe filming). I think I'm going to search for the Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh film instead. Has anyone seen this? Would you recommend or not?

Pink wrote: "I attempted to watch this today, but I really didn't like the production or actors (it was a 2014 Globe filming). I think I'm going to search for the Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh film ins..."

I think I must have seen that film since I love both of those actors but I didn't remember the plot. I don't think you can go wrong with those two being in it.

I read while listening to an audio and loved this play. I found this one very easy to follow, only looked at the modern text couple of times in the beginning. That's how Merchant of Venice was for me too but I struggled and had to read a lot of the modern with the Tempest and MacBeth. I don't know why they would be different. Anyone else have this experience of finding some of his plays easy to follow and others not (without relying on the modern)? I really loved The Tempest and MacBeth after I understood them, so it's not a matter of liking them or not.

I've been slow getting around to it, but have now started reading.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, but previous to watching and reading notes about Othello recently, I knew nothing at all about the story, except that he was a moor with darker skin. However, Desdemona is such an iconic and well known tragic character that as soon as I realised she was in this play I knew that things wouldn't end well for her.

I'd have liked to study this play at school, as it would make for great debates, but unfortunately we skipped it.

Well, I finished it yesterday & it wasn't half bad. I understood the story more than I expected to. And even though I wanted Desdemona and Othello to work it out, I stopped and thought "Oh yeah, this is Shakespeare -- not gonna' happen!" and, of course, it didn't!

Well, it's a tragedy, so it's not going to happen.

The characters in Shakespeare's comedies can usually work through some terrible misunderstandings. It's just his tragedies where no one talks it out and everyone acts on impulse.

I finished it a bit ago, and while I really liked it, I didn't think it was as awesome as Hamlet. But what is?

Paula W wrote: "I finished it a bit ago, and while I really liked it, I didn't think it was as awesome as Hamlet. But what is?"

I'm going to try Hamlet next, I think. Of course, I've heard so much about Hamlet and Macbeth for years, and probably even studied them a little in school, but I'm not sure that I've actually read them. So, I think it would be good for me to add them to my 2017 reading goals :)

Oh, if you've never read Hamlet, definitely put that on your list if you're at all interested in Shakespeare!

Less so Macbeth, though that one is good too. Just not AS good.

I've seen Hamlet performed half a dozen times, and every time, the interpretation was completely different.

It's such a wonderfully ambiguous play with plenty of material for a good director to interpret.

Melanti wrote: "Oh, if you've never read Hamlet, definitely put that on your list if you're at all interested in Shakespeare!

Less so Macbeth, though that one is good too. Just not AS good.

I've seen Hamlet perf..."

Thanks for the input!

Hamlet is my favourite so far as well....I'm still reading Othello...

I just read Hamlet this year as part of my personal challenge for 2016. It is, at this point, my favorite play by Shakespeare.

Loretta wrote: "I just read Hamlet this year as part of my personal challenge for 2016. It is, at this point, my favorite play by Shakespeare."

Alright, Hamlet it is!

Terris wrote: "Loretta wrote: "I just read Hamlet this year as part of my personal challenge for 2016. It is, at this point, my favorite play by Shakespeare."

Alright, Hamlet it is!"

:)!

I'm going to put Hamlet on my list for 2017

I finished Othello last night, after a couple of weeks reading this on and off. Strangely I just couldn't settle into reading it, I kept finding my mind drifted and so I picked up something else instead. I'm not sure why this was, as I enjoyed the film version and for quality of play it's one of my favourites. Still a 4 star read for me, but it didn't keep me gripped enough or quite hold up to the quality of Hamlet, which was 5 star for me.

Pink, I feel the same way. I hope to get to it next year. I feel the same way about King Lear. I can't get into it either. I think it's the end of the year reading slump.

That could be it too. I'm going to try something simpler for the rest of the year, well apart from War and Peace, which I'm still reading ;)

I love the Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh film version. Branagh's Iago is downright satanic!

We now have a group read for Othello. Please follow and continue the discussion in the appropriate threads:

Othello, No spoilers
Othello, Spoilers