Comparing Othello And The Movie O

How is the theme of suffering portrayed in ‘Othello’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’?

For me, I think “O” movie was a god modern-day translation of “Othello” by William Shakespeare. The themes and ideas of Shakespeare Williams were translated to the movie and that he will agree with the modernization. I’ m going to compare and contrast the characters, plot and setting from the book and movie to prove my point.

‘Othello is one of the brilliant plays written by William Shakespeare. It is the story of man named Othello and how his mind was twisted and manipulated by a man named Iago and how Iago made Othello think that his wife Desdemona was cheating on him with his lieutenant Michael Cassio, which results in many deaths. Tim Blake Nelson has creatively restructured ‘Othello’ into a film to appeal to a teenage audience. It still contains the same central ideas which are racism, jealousy and deception which will be analysed on how they are portrayed in ‘Othello’ and are creatively reshaped in ‘O’.

In most cases, movies based upon books are vastly different, and many details are left out. However, even though O is set in a modern day high school, and Othello is set hundreds of years ago, most of the events in the movie and the book are quite similar. The fact that Othello was intended to be a play by Shakespeare probably makes this easier to accomplish. In the case of plot, both the movie and the book are nearly spot on, with only a few minor details separating the two. That being said, O does feel less realistic and, because of that, provides a less powerful message.

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.

As we read Othello in class Iago reminded me of a character named Lotso from the movie Toy Story 3 that was released in 2010. He reminded me of Lotso because in Toy story 3, he gained the trust of the toys at the daycare as well as Andy’s toys, he then manipulated them, and lastly turned them against one another. In Othello Iago manipulated the characters easily because they knew him as “honest Iago” and never doubted anything he said. He pretended to be everyone’s friend, and he also turned Othello against Desdemona and Cassio by using the fact that Othello was easily angered from jealousy. Iago did all of this because he wanted to punish Othello for not making him the lieutenant and to get rid of Cassio so that he could claim the position of lieutenant. These are the most apparent similarities between the two characters.

*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.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense.” When Emerson says that speech is powerful, it is because it is the key to the minds of others and therefore a common and effective tool for manipulation. Such is the case in the tragedy Othello, and the science fiction novel, 1984. Both William Shakespeare and George Orwell present brutal villains, both of whom bring their adversaries to an unfortunate end using speech and other manipulation techniques.

Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe both tell about men of status that lose all power as a result of their actions. Othello and Okonkwo fall into the general category of tragic hero, with each having a tragic flaw and a downfall. Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is that the hero must have a tragic flaw, a downfall resulting from the flaw, and recognition that their flaw is the cause of the fall. Othello has all traits of Aristotle’s tragic hero, while Okonkwo lacks recognition. Both Othello and Okonkwo exemplify characteristics of Aristotle’s tragic, conveying a common theme while expressing individual themes. Things Fall Apart and Othello, the Moor of Venice share the theme that

As the villain in Shakespeare's play Othello, Iago has two main actions. They are to plot and to deceive. Iago wishes to plot and to deceive because he is jealous of Othello and hates him. Iago's reasons for why he hates Othello is because he believes that Othello made love to his wife, and Iago is mad that Cassio was chosen to be Lieutenant instead of himself. From this hate comes the main conflict of the play.

Many people prefer the book version of a story rather than the film it tries to become. This is due to the fact that the author’s intent of his own story is much more intriguing and familiar to its readers than just another film version. However, some versions portray the story better than others. Hollywood seems to have taken up the responsibility of creating complicated and compelling characters on screen. Unfortunately, doing so can easily take away a story’s rich, necessary detail. For instance, Shakespeare’s Othello has a few different movie versions of his story. Both movies, the 1990 version by Trevor Nunn and the 1995 version by Oliver Parker, are great productions carried by strong casts. However, there are areas in which the movie and the play differ. These differences tend to interpret the film in a different way compared to what Shakespeare intended. The film portrayals of Shakespeare’s Othello by Parker and the other by Nunn both display the character of Desdemona in very different ways. The Nunn version of this play did a much better job of portraying Desdemona as Shakespeare

When Shakespeare composed the tragedy Othello televisions were not. Along with no televisions, life in the late 1500s had many different qualities than it does today. This time period had no war on drugs and no high school shootings. Peer pressure was not an issue. The audiences of Othello in the 1500s did not face the circumstances that we, American high school students, face today. With these significant differences in daily life, come the attempts of movie creators to help prevent our modern day tragedies.

similar, yet at the same time there are a lot of major differences. The major similarity in

Othello and Iago Comparison Othello and Iago are different in their characters as well as in their colours. It could be said also, however, that they are similar because of their fallibility. Iago is overcome with his desire for revenge to such an extent that he puts it into action. Othello's love and possessiveness of Desdemona take over him until he eventually would rather kill her than allow anyone else to have her. In this way, despite their contrasts, Iago and Othello both represent the extremity of the same thing - human emotion.

Only by considering a range of perspectives can we truly appreciate the world of Shakespeare’s Othello. It is through my exploration of these perspectives and their relationship with changing morals and values that has enriched my understanding of the play. One such reading of the play challenges the marginalisation and objectification of woman in a patriarchal Venetian society, while taking into account the changing role of women in modern society. Another interpretation of Othello examines its post colonial elements through the protagonist Othello, and his insecurities of being a black man in a white society. My interpretation of the play as a portrayal of the values existing in Shakespeare’s time is filtered through these