Acting As Applied Criticism In Shakespeare's Othello

In the “Three Greened-Eyed Monsters: Acting as Applied Criticism in Shakespeare's Othello”, Geoffrey Bent claims that actors can serve an important, if not, a better hermeneutic, or a method of interpretation than academic critics. Generally, when one wants to know how a play will turn out they resort to scholar interpretations from the web or renowned universities. Academic critics appear to be credible when claiming bizarre interpretations with just a piece of supporting text. Unfortunately, this form of interpretation seems to shrink the credit given to actors as interpreters, who are dedicated to bringing a piece of text to life. The audience, who has already been influenced by outside sources, often overlook actors when in actuality actor

Actors are tasked with “illuminating a piece of work”(358) through appearance and how they perform their lines. For example, if a pianist adds an extra key that changes the song, the song can either sound better or worse. The pianist like the actor has control over what they will convey. Hence, it is their interpretation, appearance and how it is conveyed, that translates plain guidelines to a performance. However, it is heavily dependent on the actors ability to “edify and clarify” which is why actors only hold the potential to surpass academic scholars as interpreters. With this in mind, it is essential for actors to fully understand their characters in order to accurately display the character to the best of their ability. Particularly, Iago exists in the play Othello as one of the most complex characters at the turn of the 17 century. As Agnes Matuska writes in “An Ontological Transgression”, Iago is “present both in the drama and on the stage on several levels”(46). Iago interacts with the levels of reality by talking to both the audience and other characters in the play. Additionally, Iago creates higher levels of complexity as he interacts with each individual differently. Thus, if a role as complex and important as Iago’s is to be played well by an actor, then the actor must pertain to