Othello by Vincent Goodwin, William Shakespeare

Othello by Vincent Goodwin, William Shakespeare
Illustrator: Chris Allen
Series: Graphic Shakespeare
Published by Graphic Planet on July 1, 2008
Source: Purchased
Genres: Classic, Graphic novel, Play
Pages: 48
Format: Hardcover
Purchase at Bookshop.org
Add on Goodreads

The tragedy of William Shakespeare's Othello comes alive in this stunning graphic novel adaptation using the original Shakespearean dialog. The world-class art, romance, betrayal, and tragedy of Othello will capture the attention of reluctant readers.

I actually bought this graphic novel for Amber. I thought that it would give her an idea of what Othello was about before we went to see it. She never read it, but I did  – a quick refresher never hurts. This is just a quick version of the play. Yes, it uses Shakespeare’s language, but a lot is cut out of it. It does give you most of the general idea of what’s going on though, and the illustrations are attractive enough. Not outstanding, but they let you see what’s going on in the play which is so much more helpful than only reading the sometimes difficult to understand dialogue. I think it took me like a half hour to read or so. It definitely can’t replace the play itself, but it’s a good introduction I guess you could say. Graphic novels like this one can make Shakespeare relatable and less scary, I guess. Some people hear “Shakespeare” and are immediately turned off, but the plays are chock full of love and sex and war and violence. This was not quite as good as the Macbeth graphic novel I read earlier this year.

We did get to see Othello on the stage a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it.