Thomas Rymer and ‘Othello’

Summary

Rymer’s celebrated critique of Othello contains a large number of difficult and important problems. It is part of a European critical debate about the nature of drama and it was this debate, dormant in England for over a hundred years, that T. S. Eliot was trying to revive when he remarked, in the course of one of his essays, ‘I have never, by the way, seen a cogent refutation of Thomas Rymer’s objections to Othello ’. Eliot saw the importance of the debate but his own remarks rather conceal the problem. Without saying that he himself considers the objections valid he leaves his reader to assume that objections which were first published in 1692/3 and have not yet been answered, must be fairly damaging. As Rymer’s most recent editor, Curt A. Zimansky, says

His attack on Othello remains a challenge since the attacks on probability seem valid and the play does raise special problems of moral and decorum.

If Rymer's views are an important part of a vital critical argument it is essential to understand exactly what the argument is about.