Othello part 1: ‘O, Beware, my Lord, of Jealousy’

Episode 205: Last time Ben Jonson’s retelling of a slice of Roman Imperial history failed to impress at the Globe theatre. As an actor in that play Shakespeare had first-hand experience of the way the audience in the theatre could turn on the poet and the players alike, but it is difficult to think that his confidence in his own work was much dented by the experience. His next play ‘The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice’ is, I would say, brim full of the confidence of an experienced playwright who knew that his play would both entertain on several levels and provoke much thought in the audience. The dating and first performance of the play The early publication history of the play Details from a performance in 1610 The source material for the play The structure of the play The significance of Venice and Cyprus The structural balances in the play The poetry and imagery in the play The use of language as a dramatic technique The urgency of the opening of the play The character of Iago and how he manipulates his victims The character of Brabantio What the Elizabethan audience might have thought of a ‘moor’ Queen Elizabeth’s attitude to immigrants from Africa How Shakespeare handled the racial aspects of the play The character of Micheal Cassio Support the podcast at: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Othello part 1: ‘O, Beware, my Lord, of Jealousy’ online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Othello part 1: ‘O, Beware, my Lord, of Jealousy’ is an episode from The History Of European Theatre by Philip Rowe.

This episode is 36:46 long.

This episode was published on Mar 2, 2026.

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