A Routledge literary sourcebook on William Shakespeare's Othello

Othello has delighted and disturbed theatre audiences for four centuries and remains one of the most frequently performed and widely studied of Shakespeare's plays.

This broad-ranging guide introduces: the play's contexts, including an overview, chronology and reprinted contemporary documents critical responses, through a brief critical history and reprinted critical texts with explanatory headnotes the play in performance, through a selection of clearly introduced readings. Andrew Hadfield then examines key passages of the play in detail.

Each passage is reprinted in full, with a headnote and annotations explaining Shakespeare's language and relevant critical issues.

Cross-references throughout link together the contextual materials, critical responses and the play's text.