Reading & Training

Reading & Training by William Shakespeare

Othello is the definitive play on the theme of jealousy. In this remorseless tragedy, first performed in 1604, William Shakespeare's most malevolent villain, Iago, aide to Othello, plants the seed of the green-eyed monster in the mind of his master, incubating it with vile insinuations until it devours the great man and the lives of those he loves. Iago believes he has been unfairly treated by the Moor, who is completely unaware of it, so both are carried through the drama on tides of delusion. This is what places Othello among Shakespeare's masterpieces-driven by the spiteful impulses to which all of us are at some time susceptible, the course of life can go horribly awry.

At the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, Peter Holland is the McMeel Family Professor of Shakespeare Studies. He was President of the Shakespeare Association of America (2007-8) and Director of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon (1997-2002).