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 deadly plotting. Modern audiences, too, have certain expectations and ideas about the pla…