Othello Feature Article

William Shakespeare’s play Othello is one of his four most great tragedies. This play is “widely known as being one of the most moving and most painful with the fall of proud, dignified man, the murder of a graceful, loving woman, and the unreasoning hatred of a “motiveless” villain”. Othello is an esteemed general respected and honoured for his position despite the fact he is a moor. After promoting the Florentine Cassio, his “friend” Iago despises Othello’s decision as he believes it should’ve been him who deserved it.

Othello later elopes with Desdemona, which was looked down upon due to Othello being a black man. This is where Iago, the protagonist, begins his malicious plan to bring down Othello. Using Rodrigo, who loves Desdemona, to do his dirty work for him. This play was written in 1604; new versions have been made into film with modern day altercations, for example, “O”, directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Each of these show similarities and differences. Many of the themes shown in Shakespeare’s original play Othello use the same themes. and The movie “O” shows a great deal of parallels to the book.

Director Tim Blake Nelson stayed true to Shakespeare’s original cast, plot, and sequence of events, but he set his movie in modern times. It takes place in a primarily white high school where Odin, playing the part of Othello, is a basketball star who leads his team to many victories. His right-hand-man, Michel (playing Cassio) is always there for him, helping in any way he can. Hugo plays the part of Iago. He shows a lot of jealousy towards Odin and Desi (playing Desdemona) being in a relationship as well as all of Odin’s skills.

The characters that create this play show one theme all throughout this play, Deception and Illusion vs. Reality. RACISM: Iago says many things that show his racism clear as daylight. Iago refers to Othello as `thick-lips’ and `sooty-bosom’, also he calls him an assortment of animals including `an old black ram’, and a `Barbary horse’. Iago speaks to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio. He refers to Desdemona and Othello’s children being part animal because Iago is comparing Othello’s sexuality to that of a horse. You’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse, you’ll have your nephews neigh to you, you’ll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans” (Shakespeare, 32). McEachern describes Venice as being “proto-liberal”, even with that view in mind; she describes Iago’s racism as being “super-subtle” (140). Subtle is the word of choice because gradually, all of the main characters become Iago’s dupes without knowing it. Iago’s racist hatred for blacks gives him a motivation for wanting to destroy Othello’s happiness and also gives him a way to do it.

Iago only needs to convince Othello that Desdemona hates him because of his color. Iago, in a way, must rationalize and naturalize his own fictions as truths in order to get Othello to believe him. He cannot succeed in causing Othello’s jealousy unless he believes them, to some degree, himself. “The most unsettling thing about Iago [… ] is his unblushing separation of being from seeming” (McEachern, 195). Although the reader never finds out what happens to Iago at the end of the play, it is assumed that he gets executed for his treason and lies.

All of the energy he used trying to fight Othello, eventually caused his own destruction. Jealousy is destructive weather it is internal, like Iago’s racism, or external like Iago’s sly hints to Othello about Desdemona’s unfaithfulness. “O” . JEALOUSY: There are many things that Hugo does that show his jealousy towards Odin. He shows shock and dismay when the coach of the team (who is also Hugo’s father) said that he loves Odin like his own son. Hugo also takes steroids and other drugs to keep his performance up hoping to surpass Odin’s skills.

He tells Rodger, (who plays the part of Rodrigo) “I’m considered a utility man. I rebound, I can shoot, I play guard, forward, power forward, you name the position, I fuckin’ play it. ” “The point is, I’m the MVP on this piece of shit team [… ]” (“O”, scene 2). This shows jealousy of Odin because he was selected as MVP of the basketball team. Hugo actually admits that he is jealous, but he sees it as a flaw as opposed to Iago in the play. Hugo talks to Odin before a dunking contest in the gym and says that Odin should forget about Desi.

He tells him that he has everything and that he would give his life to be in Odin’s shoes and says that Desi is not a prize that he needs to win, but rather that Odin is the prize (“O”, scene 13). There is one place at the very end of the movie that Hugo directly admits to his jealousy. He is talking about a hawk and how it relates to power, darkness, determination, and to being proud. He says, “Odin is a hawk, he soars above us. He can fly. But one of these days everyone’s gonna pay attention to me. Because I’m gonna fly too” (“O”, scene 21).