Othello Essays

Othello Essays Othello Paper Othello Paper The audience, having been introduced to Othello by Iagos motiveless malignity,1 expects this man to be professionally bombast and animalistic. In fact Othello is not named until the third scene, thus dramatising his blackness and bestiality. However this preconception of Othello is immediately undone when he successfully calms the angry Brabantio and satisfies the suspicious Duke and Senators. Othellos heroic nature cannot be doubted due to the solidity of his character in the first two acts of the play; as Rebecca Warren notes, Othello possesses a mythical and monumental quality that cannot be denied; he speaks and acts powerfully in a way that inspires confidence in his character. 2 This essay will explore the extent to which Othellos heroism is interdependent with his love for Desdemona, and what implications this dependency will have on the power of both. Othellos first action in the play is to convince Brabantio, the Duke and the Senators that he genuinely loves Desdemona, not that he has used mixtures, a dram or a practice of cunning hell to seduce her. Shakespeare allows Brabantio to speak before Othello, immediately creating a confident and superior character in the latter. When Othello does make his case, he uses linguistic devices befitting a hero with great control over both himself and others, Most potent, grave, and reverend seigniors rude am I in my speech and little blessed with the soft phrase of peace. Tim Blake Nelson uses non-dietetic mounds in the willow scene, Even the sun goes down Heroes eventually die these lyrics are foreshadowing the decline of the tragic hero and the audience is left to wonder about the events that to unravel. The Issue of race Is a quintessential aspect In both play and film. The racist undertone In Othello and O explores the Idea that Othello and Odin are seen as outcasts, haltingly that the universal value of race Is everlasting. The protagonists different ethnic background provides a platform for examining Ideas of racial conflict. Accepted part of public life; people of color were often thought of as savage. Shakespeare would have encountered no societal pressures against presenting such ideas. Yet he doesnt actually portray Othello as inferior, in fact he is represented as the noble savage. Although Ago makes him sound despicable in the first-act, Shakespeare then shows Othello as a well-spoken and highly regarded military leader. Shakespeare, throu gh the use of characterization, explores the critical factor of race all throughout his play. Othello the moor is consistently seen as an outsider. Ago initiates racial slurs and tension amongst all characters. In Act 1, Scene 1 He scribes Othello and Adhesions consummation as an old black ram Tipping A white ewe and making the beast with two backs. These racial innuendoes implicate the true feelings Ago has towards Othello and that he cannot look past the color of his skin. Othello could easily be read as a racist play. Its tragic hero is often described in racist, degrading tones. Tim Blake Nelsons setting of contemporary American enable him to explore racism more overtly in O. Odin and Dies Jokingly discuss their different races. When she disapproves of his use of enigma, he tells her that he is allowed to say it but she Anton even think it. Ironically Odin is haunted by a profound self-consciousness about the color of his skin. When Hugo tells him that Dies and Mike called him the enigma, the camera has an extreme close up of Dins face, and through expression it is evident that Dins worst fears are confirmed and he then begins to act out in rage and self-loathing, beginning the downward spiral of the tragic hero. Tim Blake Nelson has empowered this particular scene by employing dramatic irony; the audience knows to not trust Hugo although Odin does not. One of the most radical differences between the play is the setting. Othello takes place in the 17th century, Venice, contrasted against O, which takes place in an American private school, this is to exude the major time difference. Shakespeare has taken advantage of the patriarchal society that was in place in the 17th century. Desman throughout Othello represents one extreme of the stereotypical female, the passive ideal wife, and Emilie represents the other extreme, an independent and assertive woman. At the end of the play, Othello smothers Desman to death, she screams out O, Lord! Lord! Lord! through the use of apostrophe Desman is ailing out to the heavens, suggesting that she was controlled and manipulated to a greater degree. It is later revealed that Ago behind the events, bringing to light his duplicitous nature. Ago as a misogynist is a crucial example of the way women were perceived as Just pawns in the game of concurring Othello. The protagonist in O is power hungry and dominating. In the first party scene hip- hop music is employed to Juxtapose the divide between black and white in the preppy private high school. Symbolism has been initiated in the scene where Odin puts the rubber band around Deeds finger; he has blatantly declared his ownership ND power of Des. The rubber band is also the color green, which relates back to the green-eyed monster, this leitmotif signifies Jealousy and power. Shakespearean Othello and the contemporary appropriation O by Tim Blake Nelson, both explore the universal values of Jealousy, race and the domination of women. The themes and techniques used empower both play and film to help determine the values of each respected time. Although there are differences, ultimately the values attitudes and ideas explored do remain constant throughout history while maintaining textual integrity.