Othello (The Annotated Shakespeare) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author), Professor Burton Raffel (Editor)

Book Description

Series: The Annotated Shakespeare | Publication Date: November 1, 2005

One of the most powerful dramas ever written for the stage, Othello is a story of revenge, illusion, passion, mistrust, jealousy, and murder. If in Iago Shakespeare created the most compelling villain in Western literature, in Othello and Desdemona he gave us our most tragic and unforgettable lovers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Burton Raffel is Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities Emeritus and Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Among his many edited and translated publications are Poems and Prose from the Old English, Cligès, Lancelot, Perceval, Erec and Enide, and Yvain, all published by Yale University Press. Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at New York University, is the author of many books, including The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; annotated edition edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300108079
• ISBN-13: 978-0300108071
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Annotated Othello, November 9, 2006

By 

A. Rivera (new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Othello (The Annotated Shakespeare) (Paperback)

Before the fall semester came rolling in, I went on a Shakespeare binge to get myself back into reading. On finding the right books, I had certain preferences: 1. I didn't want a modern translation of the work and 2. I didn't want the annotations on the bottom take up 3/4 of the page. Personally, I find it hard to enjoy a work where there are only 4 lines of
it on one page. Not to mention, I don't want the editor's full interpretation and criticism on what "thou" means or something trivial. I just wanted to read the work for what it is.

This is where "The Annotated Shakespeare" comes in. Not only with Othello, they do other Shakespeare works as well like Julius Caesar, MacBeth, and others. What grabbed my attention is that they fill in the criteria in which I set in finding the ideal Shakespeare book with limited, but effective annotations.

Othello is one of my favorite plays (I don't think there's a need to go over the plot) and how it's represented in this book works great for me. The annotations provide thoughtful insight on what certain terms meant as well as providing some historical and educational references. What I like about it is that the editor doesn't get pretentious by getting out of hand with his translation and interpretation of a line. There are very few pages where the annotations take half the page at least, but that's understandable because sometimes, Shakespeare can put in something and it WILL go over your head.

I recommend this for anyone who wants to read and enjoy Shakespeare with limited distractions on a page.

5/5

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Fifteen Year Old's View, January 16, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Othello (The Annotated Shakespeare) (Paperback)

"To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on" is one of the few famous quotes from the book Othello. The quote means "When you lament something bad that's already happened, you're setting yourself up for more bad news" which in my opinion is an omen to what will happen by the end of the story.
Othello is a story about a Moor, or a North African, named Othello and Desdemona who fall in love even if everyone disagrees. Othello is a general of Venice and a powerful figure. He wasn't respected much from the people because of his color and the age difference between him and Desdemona. Desdemona is the daughter of the Venetian senator, Brabantio and is very capable of defending her marriage with Othello. Desdemona and Othello are secretly married before the book even begins and their marriage slowly crumbles as the story goes on thanks to the crafty work of Iago. Iago is one of Othello's friends, or is what everyone thinks. Iago ends up lying to Othello about what Desdemona does behind his back and gets Othello rethinking his marriage.
William Shakespeare is a very well known writer even though his writings were written four centuries ago. Othello is one of the thirty-eight plays written by him. Since they were all written in the Elizabethan age, it is much harder for us to understand what is being said. All of his plays have been translated into the world's major languages. His plays are against the rich lives of his time. Such as the kings and queens. Before and since his death, in April 1616, Shakespeare has been one of the best writers in history.
I liked Othello very much. Even though there are very few description words, since it is written as a script, the imagery was very good. I did like that the ending wasn't really given away like some plays or stories can be. It kept me reading since I didn't know what would happen next. Some of the text was hard to read but there were a few translations at the bottom to help me out. I did read a fully translated version online just to make sure I understood what was really happening. Overall, I loved the book even though it had a sad ending to is since it was a tragedy. I do recommend this book if you are looking for a Shakespeare play that is a good love story.