History YMMV / Othello

* There are alternative views of Othello himself: Hero, fool or downright monster?

---> '''John Quincy Adams:''' "[[CompletelyMissingThePoint Who can feel sympathy for Desdemona? A woman who, born and educated to a splendid and lofty station in the community, betrays her race, her sex, her duty and her country, and makes a runaway match with a blackamoor.]]"

** And in a modern update ''not'' set in high school, he's played by ChristopherEccleston, who already had an unsettling tendency to make even a CompleteMonster at least a bit sympathetic.

** In ''O'', [[HighSchoolAU the modern update set in High School]], Iago is played by [[MrFanservice Josh Harnett.]] [[EvilIsSexy Hmmm.]]

* FairForItsDay: In the original story on which ''Othello'' is based, the Moorish character doesn't even have a name, and it ends with Desdemona [[AuthorFilibuster lecturing the audience on why interracial marriage is evil.]] In his adaptation, Shakespeare gives the Moor a name and fully fleshes out his character into a sympathetic war hero. Shakespeare also adds the character of Iago to serve as the play's villain, a white man who manipulates Othello into a jealous rage ForTheEvulz. In fact, the only overtly racist elements of the play are spoken by unsympathetic characters.

** She could qualify as a deconstruction as well, given how all her Sueness does is serve to screw her over. After all, would [[ForTheEvulz Iago]] have wanted to bring her down if she was any less as such?
* MisaimedFandom: Like ''TheMerchantOfVenice'', racist interpretations of this play have been offered, such as this one from John Quincy Adams:

*** Or God's "I am who am" answer to Moses in Exodus 3:14.

----

'''John Quincy Adams:''' "[[CompletelyMissingThePoint Who can feel sympathy for Desdemona? A woman who, born and educated to a splendid and lofty station in the community, betrays her race, her sex, her duty and her country, and makes a runaway match with a blackamoor.]]"

* CompleteMonster: How many view Iago. It's plausible, seeing as he manipulates the others towards their disgrace/doom without a shred of remorse.

* SpotlightStealingSquad: Iago is the ''true'' protagonist of the play despite that Othello is the title character.

** In ''O'', [[HighSchoolAU the modern update set in High School]], Iago is played by [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Josh Harnett.]] [[EvilIsSexy Hmmm.]]

* ValuesDissonance: Now you have to understand - Elizabethan-era morality was different from modern morality. Iago says in the play "I am not what I am," and to a modern reader this means "I'm not what I act like." To an Elizabethan, it means something completely different: Iago is the ''absence'' of existence, which makes him the ultimate villain: evil in Elizabethan days wasn't considered to be a thing, it was considered to be the absence of God. Iago is the absence of God, making him even more evil than other Shakespearean villains.

*** Or God's "I am that I am" answer to Moses in Exodus 3:14.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: SidneyPoitier might have helped his acting career by forestalling his PositiveDiscrimination blacklash in the 1960s if he had accepted an offer to play the title character for a TV movie adaptation.

** The aforementioned is just one of a number of proposed motives for Iago, since he offers several different ones in the course of the play; theories go so far as to suggest that he is TheDevil himself.

* NeutralEvil: A hotly debated topic for Shakespeare buffs is whether Iago was motivated out of spite and jealousy or just absolute commitment to being a bastard.

* CompleteMonster: How many view Iago. It's plausible, seeing as he manipulates the others towards their disgrace/doom with a totally clear conscience.

* CompleteMonster (How some may view Iago. It's plausible, seeing as he manipulates the others towards their disgrace/doom with a totally clear conscience.)
* DracoInLeatherPants (Modern productions tend to be more sympathetic towards Iago, perhaps [[MisaimedFandom overly so]]. The fact that he was once played by Kenneth Branagh--and more recently by Ewan [=McGregor=]--doesn't help)

* MagnificentBastard (Iago. Among the most magnificent in literary/theatrical history.)
* NeutralEvil (A hotly debated topic for Shakespeare buffs is whether Iago was motivated out of spite and jealousy or just absolute commitment to being a bastard.)

* ValuesDissonance - Now you have to understand: Elizabethan era morality was different from modern morality. Iago says in the play "I am not what I am," and to a modern reader this means "I'm not what I act like." To an Elizabethan, it means something completely different: Iago is the ''absence'' of existence, which makes him the ultimate villain: evil in Elizabethan days wasn't considered to be a thing, it was considered to be the absence of God. Iago is the absence of God, making him even more evil than other Shakespearean villains.

* VindicatedByHistory (Even more than usual for Shakespeare--he subverted a lot of {{Forgotten Trope}}s at a time when a ClicheStorm was expected. Thomas Rymer's ''Short View of Tragedy'' in 1693 summed up the response to, for instance, a soldier as a villain rather than an honest man, and a dropped handkerchief leading to multiple murders rather than a comical misunderstanding.)

* LoveItOrHateIt: LaurenceOlivier's performance. It's either one of the most astounding feats of acting transformation ever put on camera, or an hammy and overdone mess.

** And in a modern update ''not'' set in high school, he's played by ChristopherEccleston.

* CompleteMonster (How some may view Iago. It's plausible, seeing as he manipulates the others towards their disgrace/doom with a totally clear conscience.)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/othello.jpg
[[caption-width:341:Othello and Desdemona, after [[BlackComedy taking a stab at some pillow-talk.]]]]