Feuding And Loving In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet; The Why And The How Of Poisoning In Shakespeare's Othello

George Walton Williams, Professor of English, Duke University, is the armchair lecturer for these two entries from the Eminent Scholar/Teachers: William Shakespeare series. In his gloss on Romeo and Juliet, Professor Williams eschews the traditional reading of the play as a tale of star-crossed lovers whose tragic fate has caused readers for centuries to reach for their hankies. Focusing on the balance between the public brawl scenes involving the Montagues and the Capulets, and the private scenes between Romeo and Juliet, as well as the recurrence of symbolic imagery in both--such as the "hand"--Williams makes a convincing case for interpreting the deaths of the lovers as a sacrifice to a greater good: the healing of the city of Verona. In doing so, he provides a richer context for the play, and demonstrates that Shakespeare was at least as concerned with "civic hate" as he was with "lovers' woe." Equally refreshing is Williams' tackling of Othello, in which he wrestles with the question that has plagued Shakespeareans for centuries: namely, what is Iago's motive for "poisoning" the mind of Othello against the virtuous Desdemona? He argues that Iago acts partially out of an intense reaction to his being skipped over for military promotion (the standard interpretation), but adds that there is some indefinable and twisted jealousy operating in Iago--a love directed toward Desdemona that is in some sense spiritual rather than sexual. In the second half of the program, Williams traces the "how" of the poisoning, giving examples to show that Iago's subhuman references to animals eventually become Othello's mode of discourse, resulting in a poisoned and disoriented mind at war with itself. Both of these lectures would be welcome additions to college and high school libraries with courses in Shakespeare; public libraries with strong literature collections may also want to consider. Recommended. Other titles in the series are: The Staging of Shakespeare's Plays, Hamlet as Minister and Scourge, and Death in Victory: Shakespeare's Tragic Reconciliations. (See AUTHOR-TO-AUTHOR for availability.)