ABSTRACT
In Othello we are faced with the vividly particular rather than the vague and universal. The play as a whole has a distinct formal beauty: within it we are ever confronted with beautiful and solid forms. The persons tend to appear as warmly human, concrete. They are neither vaguely universalized, as in King Lear or Macbeth, nor deliberately mechanized and vitalized by the poet’s philosophic plan as in Measure for Measure and Timon of Athens. Othello is dominated by its protagonist. Its supremely beautiful effects of style are all expressions of Othello’s personal passion. This chapter lays the basis for an understanding of the play’s symbolism. The play holds a rich music all its own, and possesses a unique solidity and precision of picturesque phrase or image, a peculiar chastity and serenity of thought. It is, as a rule, barren of direct metaphysical content.
