Part II, Trial by Text, A Sequence of Sublimation, Chapter 5, Crimes Without Passion Summary and Analysis

The chapter opens with a first-year law student coming to Williams to complain. The student is upset about being called an "activist" by the dean for complaining that Othello was racist. Williams sympathizes and notes that she thinks that she is correct to believe that the relation of reader to the text is variable and that meaning is relative to each person. Some see Williams as militaristic for sharing these concerns with some of her students, but Williams maintains the racial constructions have great power. Some accuse Williams of being against academic freedom for making these criticisms.

Williams speaks out and students start to send her exams with questions they see as prejudiced. In response, Williams sends...