Othello Book

Is it an exaggeration to wonder what would've happened to Shakespeare were it not that Harold Bloom had been with us until recently? No. People have begun to lose their minds, and we are thus losing Shakespeare inasmuch as one's mind can ever hope to contain him. Bloom labeled the current literary era "The Age of Chaos," and the label is presently proven beyond just our reading of great books. Bloom explains, with a deftness so gently humane yet trenchant, how Shakespeare's aesthetic visions are a fundamental influence on who were are as humans. Bloom's commentary is essential in these strange days because Shakespeare remains a cornerstone despite ourselves. His critical vision of Othello captures the humanness, the tragedy, and the heroism of Othello and Desdemona as it captures the uncanny, the diabolical, and the chaos of Iago. His explanation of The Bard's tragedy of Venice is aesthetic and true. Bloom's commentary helps us understand an Othello for us today because the art is unmoved and unmovable by the crazy spirit of our age.