English 345.01 Critical Response Assignment--Othello

Due in class on Thursday 25 March 2004; titled; length: 600 words, double-spaced.

Write a Critical Response that cites a critical perspective from one of the essays contained in the two collections on library reserve on Othello, using the critical essay as a point of reference and departure for further analysis of some aspect of the play; your analytical response should include a reflective, question -and problem-posing dimension.

You are encouraged to consider to what extent and how the secondary piece of criticism that you select influences your views and understanding; this may include determining points of agreement or doubt, determining significant questions raised by your experience with the essay, determining the most important ideas you "take away" from the reading, and reflecting on what you might "say back" to the author in sharing your perspective on the essay and on the play.

This critical response, however, is to be focused primarily upon your understanding and exploration of the play, as influenced to some extent by critical or scholarly research on Othello. You may choose to extend an essay's critical perspectives by explaining its potential relevance to other aspects of the play, or you may also read "against-the-grain" of the original argument to present a different or opposing perspective and argument based on your reading of the play, on other critical perspectives, and on your own understanding and reasoning. Your response can be both reflective and persuasive in its emphases and aims; our discussions and reading (including McEvoy, for example) may also inform and support your views. You may find it effective to compose a thesis for your response that maps out for readers the challenging, engaging, important points that you want to develop and to discuss.

Your observations will need to be succinct, but I encourage you to develop and to support your ideas as clearly and as cogently as space allows, including brief citations of specific lines or scenes that illustrate your interpretation, and perhaps use of summary and paraphrase in support of your analysis. Assume your audience is familiar with the play, but take care to articulate clearly your understanding and interpretation of the material, especially problems or contradictions that seem difficult to resolve.

On two hour library reserve (under English 345 Shakespeare):

Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello, ed. Barthelemy (1994)—see especially the essays by Boose, Neely, Bartelemy, Fineman, Newman, Loombia, Neill, or Genster.

Othello: Critical Essays, see especially the last two essays by Snow and Stallybrass--perhaps bypass the rest.

Also see Callaghan's Shakespeare Without Women ("Othello Was a White Man," pp.75-96).

If you find another relatively recent (1990s . . . ) essay on Othello that you prefer to use (see, for example, the journals Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Studies, or ELH), I will need to see have a copy of this essay to consider, no later than Tuesday March 23.

Questions on Othello

More relatively recent articles that can be found in Shakespeare Quarterly, and also probably online: