Othello

Following are selected resources geared to helping teachers teach Othello effectively. Those listed are intended to augment those appearing in the bibliography in the Signet Classic edition of Othello.

SHAKESPEARE STUDIES

Bergeron, David Moore. Shakespeare: A Study and Research Guide. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975.
Crowl, Samuel. Shakespeare Observed: Studies in Performance on Stage and Screen. Athens: Ohio UP, 1992.
Homan, Sidney ed. Shakespeare and the Triple Play: From Study to Stage to Classroom. Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 1988.

SUGGESTED TITLES

Teaching Shakespeare

Davis, James E., ed. Teaching Shakespeare Today: Practical Approaches and Productive Strategies. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1993.
Edens, Walter, Christopher Durer, Walter Eggers, Duncan Harris, and Keith Hull, eds. Teaching Shakespeare. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1977.
Evans, Bertrand. Teaching Shakespeare in the High School. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
Flachman, Michael. "Teaching Shakespeare Through Parallel Scenes." Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 644-646.
Gilbert, Miriam. "Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance." Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 601-608.
Kass, Sarah. "The Trials of Othello." Journal of Education 176.1 (1994): 85-101.
LoMonico, Michael. "Using Computers to Teach Shakespeare." English Journal 84.6 (1995): 58-61.
McDonald, Russ. "Shakespeare Goes to High School: Some Current Practices in the American Classroom." Shakespeare Quarterly 46.2 (1995): 145-157.
Mizener, Arthur, ed. Teaching Shakespeare: A Guide to the Teaching of Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, As You Like It, Twelfth, Richard II, Henry IV, Part One, The Tempest. New York: New American Library., 1969.
Murphy, Peter E. "Poems and Poetry: Writing Useful for Teaching Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 648-652.
O'Brien, Peggy. "And Gladly Teach: Books, Articles, and a Bibliography on the Teaching of Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly 46.2 (1995): 165-73.
Riggio, Milla C. "The Universal is the Specific: Deviance and Cultural Identity in the Shakespeare Classroom." Shakespeare Quarterly 46.2 (1995): 196-210.
Rozett, Martha Tuck. Talking Back to Shakespeare. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1994.

TEACHING RESOURCE

Fulwiler, Toby. The Journal Book. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1987.

THE TRAGEDIES

Heilman, Robert B., ed. Shakespeare: The Tragedies. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1984.
Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.
Mack, Maynard. Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
Mangan, Michael. A Preface to Shakespeare's Tragedies. New York: Longman, 1991.

SHAKESPEARE OFFSHOOTS

Armour, Richard. Twisted Tales from Shakespeare. New York: McGraw Hill, 1957.
Cohn, Ruby. Modern Shakespeare Offshoots. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1976.
Lester, Julius. Othello. New York: Scholastic, 1995.
MacLiammoir, Michael. Put Money in Thy Purse: The Filming of Orson Welles' Othello. London: Eyre Methuen Ltd., 1952, 1976.

SHAKESPEARE FILMS AND VIDEOTAPES

Davies, Anthony. Filming Shakespeare's Plays: The Adaptations of Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Peter Brook, and Akira Kurosawa. New York: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Jorgens, Jack J. Shakespeare on Film. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1977.
McLean, Andrew M. Annotated Bibliographies and Media Guide for Teachers. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1980.
McMurtry, Jo. Shakespeare Films in the Classroom: A Descriptive Guide. Hamden: Achron Books, 1994.
Othello. Dir. Oliver Parker. With Lawrence Fisburne, Irene Jacob, and Kenneth Branagh. Castlerock Entertainment, 1995 124 mins.
Othello. Dir. Orson Welles. With Orson Welles, Micheal MacLiammoir, and Susanne Cloutier. Mercury/United Artists, 1955 90 mins.
Othello. Videotape. Prd. Jonathan Miller. With Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, and Penelope Wilton. BBC/Time-Life, 1989 206 mins.

Some Additional Reading Dealing with Several Themes in Othello

1. Jealousy

"My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
A frequently anthologized poem written as a dramatic monologue in which we hear the duke, who is the speaker, imply that he has killed his last duchess because of his jealousy.

Mazer, Harry. The War on Villa Street. New York: Delacorte, 1978.
Paterson, Katherine. Jacob Have I Loved. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.

2. Loyalty

"The Wife of His Youth" by Charles Chesnutt
A frequently anthologized story of a man who has escaped slavery and become part of a prosperous, elite African-American community confronted with the wife of his youth on the eve of his intended engagement.

Bridgers, Sue Ellen. Permanent Connections. New York: Harper and Row, 1987.
Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils. New York: Grossett & Dunlap, 1964.
Myers, Walter Dean. Fallen Angels. New York: Scholastic, 1988.

3. Honor

Faulkner, William. The Unvanquished. New York: Random House, 1965.
Mazer, Harry. The Last Mission. New York: Delacorte, 1979.
LeGuin, Ursula K. Left Hand of Darkness. New York: Walker, 1969.

4. Appearance vs. Reality

Brooks, Bruce. The Moves Make the Man. New York: HarperCollins, 1987.
Duncan, Lois. Killing Mr. Griffin. Boston: Little Brown, 1978
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." From The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories. New York: NAL/Signet Classic, 1963.
Kerr, M. E. Gentlehands. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.
Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Bantam, 1975.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin, 1976.
Speare, Elizabeth. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. New York, Dell, 1978.
Stoker, Beam. Dracula. New York: NAL/Signet Classic, 1978.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: NAL/Signet Classic, 1962.

5. Loyalty vs. Treachery

Cormier, Robert. The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. New York: Dell, 1984.
Cormier, Robert. I Am the Cheese. New York: Dell, 1978.
Greene, Bette. The Drowning of Stephan Jones. New York: Bantam, 1991.

6. Truth vs. Falsehood

Bograd, Larry. Travelers. New York: Lippincott, 1986.
Greene, Bette. Summer of My German Soldier. New York: Bantam, 1974.
Oneal, Zibby. The Language of Goldfish. New York: Viking, 1985.

7. Parental Control vs. Parental Love

Mazer, Norma Fox. Silver. New York: New York: Avon, 1989.
Oneal, Zibby. In Summer Light. New York: Viking, 1985.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. NAL/Signet Classic.
Voigt, Cynthia. A Solitary Blue. New York: Atheneum, 1983.

ABOUT THE GUIDE AUTHOR

Deborah (Dee) James is currently an Associate Professor of Literature and Language at the University of North Carolina at Asheville where she teaches composition, especially Basic Writing and African-American literature. For the past five years, she has also been a team member of the university's interdisciplinary fine arts course. In addition, she co-directs the Writing Center. She is completing her term on the Executive Committee of College Composition and Communications. Her MA in literature is from Clemson University and her Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition is from USC-Columbia. Dee also served as co-director of the Mountain Area Writing Project (a part of the National Writing Project) from 1989-1991.

Presently serving as Chair of the Secondary English Committee, Department of Language Education at the University of Georgia, W. Geiger (Guy) Ellis received his A.B. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of North Carolina and his Ed.D. from the University of Virginia. For over 25 years Guy has been active in teaching adolescent literature in the classroom and in training future teachers in its use, lecturing and writing extensively on the subject as well as on more traditional educational topics in the "Probes" column of English Education and other journals. He developed and edited The ALAN Review (NCTE) from 1978 to 1984, changing its focus from a newsletter to a fully refereed journal with an emphasis on articles with research and instructional significance.

ISBN: 0-451-52661-9
Copyright © 1996 by Penguin USA
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