OTHELLO: SOME PROPOSED EMENDATIONS AND AN EXPLICATION.

A criticism of the play "Othello" by William Shakespeare is offered. The author shows how interpretations of particular words or phrases can elucidate the meaning of the text. Differing interpretations are offered for various passages. These include a passage concerning the Othello character's feelings for his wife Desdemona and one about the Iago character's references to sunlight and growth as a way of illuminating the rivalry between Cassio and Roderigo. In another passage it shows the pairing of the words "exsufflicate" and "blown" as consistent with a pattern in Shakespeare, and in the Book of Common Prayer, of pairing obscure Latin-origin words with simpler words of Anglo-Saxon origin.