"I feel the play is so modern . . . the problem is the problem of my own people. It is a tragedy of racial conflict, a tragedy of honor, rather than of jealousy. Shakespeare presents a noble figure, a man of singleness of purpose and simplicity with a mind as direct as a straight line."–Paul Robeson, speaking to the New York Times about Othello at the time he first played the role.  (See  below for the source of this quotation.)  Paul Robeson, the distinguished African American actor and activist, played Othello several times. The part had earlier been played by Ira Aldridge, a nineteenth-century African American actor, but there has been a surprising amount of debate about the significance of race in the play.

Begin by listening to James Earl Jones performing a key section from early in the play:

Before Reading, become familiar with the plot:

	Read a very brief summary at the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database.  This is really just an annotation, but it emphasizes the themes in the work that are of particular interest to the health professions many of you are entering.
	Read a longer summary on p. 4 of this New Repertory Theatre study guide. You may find other parts of the study guide useful as well. You may also want to look at a study guide from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, designed for a spring 2010 production. The section on "contemporary applications" (pp. 15-17) is particularly good.
	For a detailed summary,  go to The Tragedy of Othello The Moor of Venice.  Enter and click on "The Plot."  Many people find it helpful to read a summary for each scene just before reading the scene itself.  (This site has a number of other aids for reading the play, including discussions of the major characters and information about Shakespeare himself.  The character discussion for Othello includes a discussion of Othello's race.  Note that the site also includes the full text of the play, should you wish to read it online.)

Study Questions: 

Othello study questions from Dr. C. W. Griffin at VCU.

As you read, these resources will enrich your experience and understanding: 

	Language:  Check footnote in your text first; then look the word up in a dictionary.  (The derivation may be a clue to what a word meant in Shakespeare's time.)  This Shakespearian Glossary may help if the footnotes and your dictionary cannot.  (Notice, for example, that the glossary says an "Ancient" is  "an ensign-bearer."  This explains why Iago, who is called Othello's "ensign" in our text, can also be called an "Ancient" in some of the materials we are using.)  To have a little fun with Shakespeare's language, let this site serve up a really good insult. You may also want to look at Renaissance Faire's lighthearted page on Proper Elizabethan Accents.
	Act III, scene 3 is particularly important because in it Iago subtly leads Othello to begin doubting his wife's faithfulness.  At this site you can view a clip from the winter 2002 Masterpiece Theater Othello, a 21st-century version written by Andrew Davies and starring Eamonn Walker as John Othello, commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police.  Of course the language is not Shakespeare's and the content is a bit different,  but the modern context and the skill of the actors may help you a great deal with this key scene.  Highly recommended!  (If you need to view this in a lab, ask about how to get sound.  You'll probably need to bring earphones.)
	Act V, scene 2 is the final scene.  This page lets you listen to Paul Robeson's rendition of Othello's dying speech, and you can even download the .mp3 if you like. (Scroll down just past the middle, or use Edit, Find to search for the word "Othello" on the page.) You may notice that Robeson replaces "loved not wisely" with "loved full wisely."  This page gives only the first few lines of the speech, but it also offers some examples of Robeson's singing.
	You may want to rent a video or listen to a recording of the play.  (Parts of a recording of Paul Robeson's performance in Othello will be played in class.)

After you read, you may want to learn more about Paul Robeson's portrayal of Othello and about the debate over what Shakespeare intended in speaking of Othello as a "Moor."

	The Guthrie Theater offers a Study Guide that includes an interesting section called "The Main Characters Seen by Themselves and Others." The characters themselves and a variety of actors, directors, and critics are quoted.
	Full-length study guide An aid like SparkNotes can be very useful. You'll even find an interactive quiz to help you check your reading.
	Paul Robeson plays Othello in London. This page tells about the production and provides a picture and some newspaper clips.  It is the source of the quotation at the beginning of this page.
	Paul Robeson:  Speak of Me As I Am This site is meant to support the viewing of a film about Robeson, but many of its materials, particularly the Art of the Matter page, can be very helpful for readers of Othello.
	Amiri Baraka's 1998 essay "Paul Robeson and the Theater," which appeared in Black Renaissance (volume 2, number 1, Fall/Winter, 1998), is a long and complex essay, but it says (and quotes Robeson as saying) some important things about Othello and race. This item no longer seems to be available online, but it appears in the Black Thought and Culture database, and it can be accessed on the WSSU campus by clicking here.
	Othello on Stage  This PowerPoint presentation will take a while to load, but if you are interested in how and by whom Othello has been portrayed on stage, it will be worth waiting for.

As Shakespeare said in another play (Twelfth Night), "Enough, no more!" 

Paul Robeson Links

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This page was last updated on 03/31/2010 .  Please send comments to Rebecca Wall .