“Othello” Discussion
Details
Minneapolis Central Library
(Downtown Minneapolis)
300 Nicollet Mall - Room N-202
Minneapolis, MN 55401
There is underground parking beneath the library, off 4th St. S., for about $5. Go in to the Library lobby and then in to the book stacks area. Take the elevator or stairs up to the 2nd floor, then go all the way to the left.
This is a discussion about the play, not a reading or showing of it.
We are hoping to have a guest from the U. of M.’s Rarig Theater’s production of Othello.
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
– Iago, in Othello; Act 1, Scene 1
If after every tempest come such calms,
May the winds blow till they have waken’d death!
– Othello, in Othello; Act 2, Scene 1
Men in rage strike those that wish them best.
– Iago, in Othello; Act 2, Scene 3
Reputation is an idle and
most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost
without deserving.
– Iago, in Othello; Act 2, Scene 3
O God, that men should put an enemy in their
mouths to steal away their brains! That we should
with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause transform
ourselves into beasts!
– Cassio, in Othello; Act 2, Scene 3
Men should be what they seem.
– Iago and Othello, in Othello; Act 3, Scene 3
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o’er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
– Iago, in Othello; Act 3, Scene 3
Then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well,
Of one not easily jealous but, being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe;
– Othello, in Othello; Act 5, Scene 2
I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
– Othello, in Othello; Act 5, Scene 2
SYNOPSIS OF PLAY (from the Folger Library)
FREE VIDEOS - FULL PLAY (YOUTUBE)
• Othello (1951) (Starring Orson Welles)
• GEM: Film Library
FREE VIDEOS - OTHER (YOUTUBE)
• Animated Shakespeare Classics - Othello (25 minutes)
• Tim Nance: Shakespeare’s Othello Discussion and Summary
• Toni Morrison on Othello
• Shakespeare and Politics - Othello (begins at 8:00 minute mark)
KANOPY APP
Download the free app. Then link your library account to it. This will allow you free access to many Shakespeare plays. You can also watch the Shakespeare series “Upstart Crow” for free.
ARTICLES
• Wikipedia: Othello (play)
• Wikipedia: Othello (character)
• SparkNotes: Othello - Themes
• SparkNotes: Othello - Motifs
• SparkNotes: Othello - Symbols
• SparkNotes: Othello - Protagonist
• SparkNotes: Othello - Antagonist
• SparkNotes: Othello - Setting
• SparkNotes: Othello - Point of View
• Othello Navigator
• The Play’s the Thing: Essays on Othello
• Color of Character: Racial Cues in the Visual Othello by McKenzie Knight
• Q&A: John Douglas Thompson on playing Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company
PODCAST - Shakespeare Unlimited podcast and transcript:
• Shakespeare Unlimited #168 - Race and Blackness in Elizabethan England, with Ambereen Dadabhoy
LOCAL LIVE PERFORMANCE
• Othello at Rarig Theater, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (March 26-29, 2026)
“OTHELLO” MOVIE, OPENING MARCH 4, 2026
• Movie Trailer
• IMDb
• Rotten Tomatoes
GENERAL RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
• The Folger Shakespeare Library has free and paid (includes notes) downloadable texts of all of Shakespeare’s plays.
• The Folger Library: Shakespeare Documented has copies of original documents from Shakespeare’s time.
• PlayShakespeare: The Ultimate Free Shakespeare Research
• Podcast: “Approaching Shakespeare”
• Podcast: “Shakespeare Unlimited” Play by Play
• Play On Podcasts
• SparkNotes 101: Shakespeare [Excellent synopses of all the plays.]
• Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber [Excellent analysis of all the plays.] Kindle edition only $5.99!
FACEBOOK PAGES
• The Official William Shakespeare Page
• Shakespeare Study Group
• William Shakespeare: His Works and His World
APP
• Shakespeare App
BEST SHAKESPEARE USED BOOK SELECTIONS IN THE TWIN CITIES
• Midway Books, St. Paul
• The Book House, Minneapolis
• James & Mary Laurie Booksellers, Minneapolis
• Magers and Quinn, Minneapolis
• Half Price Books