Othello

by Shakespeare, William; Bevington, David; Kastan, David Scott

• ISBN13: 9780553213027
• ISBN10: 0553213024
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1988-01-01
• Publisher: Bantam Classics

Summary

Though this great tragedy of unsurpassed intensity and emotion is played out against Renaissance splendor, its story of the doomed marriage of a Venetian senator's daughter, Desdemona, to a Moorish general, Othello, is especially relevant to modern audiences. The differences in race and background create an initial tension that allows the horrifyingly envious villain Iago methodically to promote the "green-eyed monster" jealousy, until, in one of the most deeply moving scenes in theatrical history, the noble Moor destroys the woman he lovesonly to discover too late that she was innocent. Each Edition Includes: Comprehensive explanatory notes Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography From the Paperback edition.

Author Biography

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. In London, Shakespeare became the principal playwright and shareholder of the successful acting troupe the Lord Chamberlin's men (later, under James I, called the King's men) which built and occupied the Globe theater. In 1616, he died in Stratford after having written 37 plays, sonnets, and other poetry which would become crucial to the cannon of English literature.

DAVID SCOTT KASTAN,editor, is the Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. He is the author of SHAKESPEARE AND THE BOOK (Cambridge, 2001), SHAKESPEARE AFTER THEORY (Routledge, 1999) and he is the editor of A COMPANION TO SHAKESPEARE (1999), and co-editor of THE NEW HISTORY OF EARLY ENGLISH DRAMA (1998 award winner for the best book on theater history). He is general editor of the Arden Shakespeare (the first American ever to serve in this capacity in the Arden's hundred-plus year history). He serves on the board of the Folger Institute, the executive committee of the MLA Division on the Teaching of Literature, and on the editorial boards of a number of scholarly journals. Kastan is the Chair of the English Department at Columbia, and in 2000 he won the University's Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching and in 2004 became the first winner of the Faculty Mentoring Award.


DAVID BEVINGTON, editor, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1959. He has been teaching at The University of Chicago since 1967. He is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature, in the Committee on General studies, and Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities. He is the director of undergraduate studies in comparative literature. He was one of three editors of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF BEN JONSON (Cambridge UP, 2003), senior editor of THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF RENAISSANCE DRAMA (2002), senior editor of the Revels series, and senior editor of the Revels students editions. He edited THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE, HarperCollins, fifth edition (Longman, 2003).

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 4
William Shakespeare: Life, Plays, Theater, Verse	p. 6
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice: Date, Source, Text	p. 16
Othello
Original Text Side-by-Side With Modern Version	p. 19
Activities	p. 294
Themes and Images	p. 294
Characters	p. 301
Examination Questions	p. 315
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