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English Literature   >   Shakespeare: Othello

A Play of Two Visions

 
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Shakespeare: Othello

In this course, Dr Fred Parker (University of Cambridge) presents Shakespeare’s Othello as play that explores the tension between a ‘high’ and ‘low’ vision of life – the ‘high’ vision exemplified by the exalted, elevated way that Othello thinks of himself, the ‘low’ vision by Iago’s more down-to-earth, ‘realistic’ view of things. In the first lecture, we introduce the idea of a ‘high’ and ‘low’ vision by looking at the conversation between Cassio and Iago about Desdemona in 2.3, and thinking about the ‘highness’ of Othello’s language. In the second lecture, we think about Iago as a key proponent of a ‘low’ vision of the world. In the third lecture, we think about why Iago finds it so easy to convince Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him, making the argument that Iago need only introduce Othello to the idea of duplicity to convince him that his wife is in fact being duplicitous. In the fourth lecture, we think about the tension between Othello’s ‘high’ language to describe his ‘low’ deeds, i.e. his murder of Desdemona, before turning in the fifth lecture to consider the extent to which Desdemona and Emilia are able to find a harmonious balance between the ‘high’ and ‘low’ worlds that has proved impossible elsewhere in the play.

A Play of Two Visions

In this lecture we introduce the idea that Othello is a play of two ‘visions’ – a high vision and a low vision – focusing in particular: (i) Iago and Cassio’s conversation about Desdemona in 2.3, in which Cassio’s ‘high’ vision of Desdemona (‘She’s a most exquisite lady’, 2.3.17) is met with Iago’s ‘low’ vision (‘And I’ll warrant her full of game, 2.3.18); (ii) the extent to which Cassio sees the marriage of Othello and Desdemona in almost mythological terms; (iii) Othello’s ‘high’ vision of his own life story, particularly the exalted, enchanting language he uses to tell it – famously described as ‘the Othello music’ by G. Wilson Knight – and Desdemona’s response to it; (iv) the extent to which Othello’s life story before meeting Desdemona might be seen as a tragedy, and Desdemona the ideal spectator of tragic drama; (v) the extent to which Othello and Desdemona’s marriage is socially unconventional (in Venetian terms), and the extent to which this unconventionality makes it vulnerable.

Cite this Lecture

APA style

Parker, F. (2025, January 22). Shakespeare: Othello - A Play of Two Visions [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/shakespeare-othello-parker

MLA style

Parker, F. "Shakespeare: Othello – A Play of Two Visions." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 22 Jan 2025, https://massolit.io/courses/shakespeare-othello-parker

Lecturer

Dr Fred Parker

Dr Fred Parker

University of Cambridge