Tag Archives: Othello

The Bard Understood Race in a Deep Way

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2024

Shakespeare understood race at a deep level, whiteness and blackness both. In “Titus Andronicus” a character declares that Black is beautiful.

By Robin Bates | Published: April 12, 2022

Those who complain most about sexual perversion are usually the people who are most implicated in it. Take Iago, for instance.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged pedophilia, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: April 10, 2022

The “ressentiment” that drives Iago to destroy Othello is present in our own society and equally destructive.

By Robin Bates | Published: April 6, 2022

“Othello” continues to raise urgent questions that we’ve got to grapple with.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 8, 2022

Seeking to bring back the 1990s culture wars, an “American Conservative” article claims the left is attacking Shakespeare. Nope.

By Robin Bates | Published: January 19, 2022

Literature, in the current climate, cannot help but be seen as political. That’s because it urges us to consider other views.

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2021

Allan Bloom’s “Shakespeare’s Politics” (1964) argues that, through the Bard, we better understand politics.

By Robin Bates | Published: April 1, 2020

Why is Othello so gullible. It may be that he has an underlying security, which Iago understands and preys upon.

By Robin Bates | Published: March 30, 2020

To understand Iago’s motivations, think status anxiety–the fear of losing cultural and social dominance over “the Other.”