Two interpretations of Othello: a feminist reading, and a reading based on class and power

Shakespeare's tragedy Othello has been brought to the stage hundreds, thousands of times with many different interpretations and readings due to its vast history of literary debate and analysis. Its thematic concerns are expansive and open to interpretation: they range from tragedy, love, power, jealousy, trust, class and race, and the actions of its characters often provoke controversy and harsh criticism, from Othello's "fatal flaw" of envy, to Desdemona's trivial persistence and Iago's sinister and …

…an upright stance, to symbolise this. When the violence settles and the Senate members, including the Duke, regain control at the end of Act 5 Scene 2, Lodovico's closing speech should echo this, shifting the blame entirely onto Iago, reinforced by the lines "Look on the tragic loading of this bed:/ This is thy work". The audience should be left in no doubt, this is not merely Iago's work, but also the state's, by way of negligence.