How Does Othello Rate? Essay -- GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Othello

How Does Othello Rate?  Ã‚        Ã‚   Is this the best, the second-best, the worst of William Shakespeare’s tragedies? Where does it place in the lineup? Let’s consider where it deserves to be and why in this essay.    The play is so quotable; consider Desdemona’s opening lines before the Council of Venice: â€Å"My noble father, / I do perceive here a divided duty,† or Othello’s last words: â€Å"Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.† Could the continuing reputation of Othello be attributed to the quotable â€Å"ultimate form† in which the Bard of Avon expressed his ideas? Robert B. Heilman says in â€Å"The Role We Give Shakespeare†:    If we use the word â€Å"support,† however, we do name a way in which Shakespeare serves. It is the way of venerable texts whose authenticity has impressed itself on the human imagination: he has said many things in what seems an ultimate form, and he is a fountainhead of quotation and universal center of allusion. â€Å"A rose by any other name† comes to the mouth as readily as â€Å"Pride goeth before a fall,† and seems no less wise. A quotable line is one that has shed its context and taken on independent life. Very significantly, Shakespeare scenes and character relationships have also taken on independent life and have provided basic formulations upon which other writers rely. (24-25).    Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† ranks the play Othello quite high among the Bard’s tragedies:    Othello, written in 1604, is one of the masterpieces of Shakespeare’s â€Å"tragic period.† In splendor of language, and in the sheer power of the story, it belongs with the greatest. But some of its admirers find it too savage. . . .(131)    The Bard’s presentation of emotions, character, of good a... ...othing.† Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.    Heilman, Robert B. â€Å"The Role We Give Shakespeare.† Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.    Levin, Harry. General Introduction. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. â€Å"The Engaging Qualities of Othello.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.