Character of Othello by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Othello must not be conceived as a negro, but a high and chivalrous Moorish / chief. Shakspeare learned the sprit of the character from the Spanish / poetry, which was prevalent in England in his time.[1]

Jelousy does not strike me as the point in his passion; I take it to be / rather an agony that the creature, whom he had believed angelic, with whom / he had garnered up his heart, and whom he could not help still loving, / should be proved impure and worthless. It was the struggle _not_ to / love her. It was a moral indignation and regret that virture should so / fall: -- "But yet the _pity_ of it, Iago! -- O Iago! the _pity_ of it, / Iago! " In addition to this, his hourour was concerned: Iago would not have / succeeded but by hinting that this honour was compromised. There is no / ferocity in Othello; his mind is majestic and composed. He deliberately / determines to die; and speaks his last speech with a view of showing his / attachment to the Venetian state, though it had superseded him.