Comparing O. J. Simpson And Othello's Jealousy

Othello weaves a tragic tale of love, jealousy and murder. Set in Venice and progressing to Cyprus, Shakespeare’s Othello follows the cursed path of its namesake, a black soldier whose love for his wife ultimately results in her death. Woven into the socially and emotionally delicate plot is a multitude of key themes, including race (Othello’s colour), love, and jealousy.

Othello’s tragic flaw can be viewed as jealously which ultimately leads to his downfall. When Othello is manipulated by Iago to believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Desdemona, Othello does not change from his good person mentality. However, Othello carries out with the plan for murder for which he believes is a fine reason to end Desdemona’s once previous life to preserve her innocence. Othello is the tragic hero within the play titled after him and because of his title, because of this Othello, the Moor of Venice follows one of Aristotle’s requirements.

Even though O.J. Simpson and Othello seem to be different, being that one is fictional and are from two distinctly different time periods, they actually have a lot in common. Obviously they are both men of color, but were also both in a position of power. Othello was a well respected Venetian general, who worked hard to get to his position. While O.J. was a famous football player who was on TV and in movies. Both men were in interracial marriages, Othello was married to Desdemona, who was considered to be “one of the most beautiful and virtuous in the land” (Hall). And O.J. was divorced from and had two kids with Nicole Brown Simpson. Both women were killed, one confirmed and one not proven, by their husband or ex-husband.

From a visual perspective, the film is captivating, especially the love scene between Othello and Desdemona. To say that this is based on the O.J Simpson trial is perplexing. Although Parker does selectively reduce the dialogue from Shakespeare’s play, all that has been selectively captured and included from the play, is straight out of the play. Although there is no basis between the film and the O.J Simpson trial the commonality between the true is that they both invite the audience to look and think about how conscious we are about the issues of race within society. Unlike 400 years ago, in modern society, it is very much impossible to ignore Iago’s character and not determine that he is in fact a racist. The symbolism used by Parker where Iago delivers his monologue over the chess board, where the chess pieces have been positioned to show a black king opposing a white queen and knight, is used to clearly illustrate Iago’s manipulative character in trying to make Othello question whether Desdemona is even attracted to him because of his colour. Instead, Iago pairs both the white queen and the white knight signifying a more likely choice for Desdemona would be Cassio.

*INTRO*The character Oedipus in the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and the character Othello in the play Othello the Moor of Venice by Shakespeare are both tragic characters. Oedipus ends up killing his father, and marrying and having children with his mother, whereas Othello ends up mistrusting and killing his wife. These two individuals have similarities and differences in several aspects such as the roundness of their characters, the retribution that they incur upon themselves and upon their respective wives whether directly or indirectly, and their horrors.

Even if Othello was not as trusting or corrupt, he still would not realize Iago was lying. Othello commits his first act of violence against Desdemona by hitting her. This shows now Othello's tragic flaw. He made himself susceptible to Iago and the jealousy within him begins to lead to the end of others. By his actions, Othello has isolated himself from everyone except Iago. This gives Iago the perfect opportunity to complete his course of action. Finally, Othello's breakdown

Jealousy is a powerful emotion that can blind oneself from identifying the truth. Shakespeare heavily emphasizes this theme throughout the drama Othello, especially through the actions of characters. In the play the heinous antagonist, Iago, uses each character’s jealousy to deceive that person and manipulate the truth. His false promises and deceitfulness bring to the demise of many of the main characters in the play, including the protagonist, Othello. Othello could not have been deceived if it were not for his powerful jealousy. Therefore, Shakespeare is telling us that jealousy is an ugly trait that can hide the truth, which in turn causes many problems between characters in the play.

Shakespeare's “Othello” is a tragedy written about a black lieutenant and his terrific outcome. Being manipulated by the villain Iago, drives him to kill his own wife. Othello is responsible for Desdemona's death because he allowed Iago to manipulate him, he didn't trust Desdemona and strangled her while she slept.

In the play, Othello, jealousy and envy are prominent themes from the beginning to the end. As the play starts to unwind, you can see jealousy is the major cause of all the drama in the play. Jealousy or envy is a feeling of discontented or resentful longing by someone else’s possessions , qualities or luck. Iago becomes engulfed by jealousy and it causes him to corrupt Othello. They are two men that cause similar crimes but we sympathize for Othello and hate Iago because they have different attitudes towards their crime.

Iago seems sincere enough, and he makes a concerted effort to ensure that he remains aces in everyone's book. So when Iago begins to plant the seeds of doubt into Othello's mind, Othello has no cause to doubt him. Desdemona is his wife, the woman that he loves with all his heart. Yet, see how quickly he is dissuaded, and how he disparages her. "Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damn'd tonight, for she shall not live. No, me heart is turn'd to stone, I strike it, and it hurts my hand?I will chop her into messes. Cuckold me!" (1167). But Othello never thinks to disbelieve Iago. He believes Iago to be an honest man, wise and simply trying to help. So he doesn't stop to think that maybe he should talk this over with his wife before he launches himself into a state of panic.

    Othello is the Cultural Other in Venetian society, and while he is very learned, it is probable that

Jealousy is a powerful drug. When someone is jealous, one can only imagine how far someone would go because of it. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, there were several characters that went through different ways of processing their jealousy. Iago’s jealousy provokes his idea to get back at the people he felt was not deserving enough of the things they had or their happiness. His plans succeeds but by the end, no one wins. Iago’s jealousy forms at the beginning of the play which causes Othello’s jealousy towards the end and because of it, it results in people hurt mentally and physically.

In the play Othello, jealousy is shown to be very evident through the actions of the characters. Jealousy is an emotion that everyone shares, and it is ultimately responsible for the tragic ending of the play. Everyone feels jealous at certain times of their lives, and this feeling can cause people to do irrational things. This human emotion also shows people to be weak in the sense that they are never happy with what they have. Shakespeare shows through Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio that jealousy is the most corrupt and destructive emotion.

Another area of jealousy in Othello is when there are accusations of Othello having an affair with Iago’s wife, Emilia. Emilia was a woman who thought her husband was unfaithful, but stayed with him anyway. Along with these rumors, there were also rumors that Cassio had slept with Emilia too. I believe that jealousy is a powerful thing, and it’s hard to overcome rumors and accusations when they involve everyone’s husbands and wives. Not every character handled themselves the same while getting through these accusations of affairs and what not.

Although the settings have changed during the centuries, jealousy and racism between Othello and ‘O’ still remain somewhat the same.