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Racism in literature
Describe the character of Othello
Character analysis of shakespeare's othello
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Recommended: Racism in literature
The Shakespeare’s play “Othello” and the 2001 contemporary movie “O” both have comparisons in their plots as well as differences. The comparisons that both the movie and the play have are racism, love, jealousy, and manipulative illusions. However, there is contrast in the time, theme and techniques. In both, the play and the movie racial tension are observed. Othello is a black man, who is a general that takes precedence over everyone in the Venetian army. He is a noble man of valor on the island of Cyprus who is highly esteemed. In the same way, Odin is the best basketball player on his team and he is the only black in the entire school, who was admired by his peers. Although the racial suggestions are more common in the movie than
In the play "Othello", Othello is a black, which is same as Odin (in the movie "O"). Also, Othello is a person who has won many battles, and everyone respects him. This is similar to the situation of Odin. In "Othello", all the characters are living in high class society, which have high reputation and rich. Moreover, in "O", a private school requires expensive school fees to study, this shows that the characters or their families are
The film ‘O’ directed by Tim Blake Nelson is a recognised contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Othello, which addresses a number of issues that are relevant to a modern day audience compared to that of the past. The director of the film has changed crucial parts of the play which makes the play such a classic, which has essentially ruined the literary value of Othello. This is evident for a number of concepts including, the overt links between the play and film, the power of words and language and Iago and his motives
...ence more reasoning to the jealousy of the characters and the actions they take. With the changed setting come many differences: drugs and alcohol, peer pressure, violence, and different sources for jealousy and hatred. These issues are the dilemmas we, as teenagers in this new millennium, are faced with day to day. "O" addresses these new era evils without abandoning the original themes and major issues of Shakespeare's Othello. The audience can relate to a story written down hundreds of years ago and benefit from it.
Have people ever wondered which is better actually reading the the Romeo and Juliet play that's about true love or being lazy and watching the movie first and go off that ? There are major differences in comparison from the actual play from 1595 to the movie that was made in 1969. That Zeffirelli had chosen to changed while directing the Romeo and Juliet Movie were scenes like the balcony,the fighting, and the very end of Romeo and Juliet Scenes. Why did he do it no one really knows why he did.
The play, Othello is one of the most famous tragedies composed by William Shakespeare during the Renaissance period. It powerfully portrays a world where the acts of evil ultimately vanquishes fidelity, nobility and integrity. The central themes jealousy and manipulation embodies the foretold tragedies and the downfall tragedies of the characters due to one’s insecurities. Through the use of literary techniques and figurative language, Shakespeare has effectively explored the themes of jealousy and manipulation.
Shakespeare does not give specific details of Othello’s background, however, it is apparent Othello is a dark-skinned outsider. The characters in the play call him the Moor. A moor is a member of a northwestern African Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent. He is referred to as black by several characters including himself. Roderigo even calls him thick-lips which is a racial slur towards African Americans.
Othello has been described as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is “Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?”
Texts and their appropriations reflect the context and values of their times. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and Geoffrey Sax’s appropriation of Othello, the evolution of the attitudes held by Elizabethan audiences and those held by contemporary audiences can be seen through the context of the female coupled with the context of racism. The role of the female has developed from being submissive and “obedient” in the Elizabethan era to being independent and liberated within the contemporary setting. The racism of the first text is overtly xenophobic and natural, whilst the “moor” is unnatural whereas the updated context portrays Othello’s race as natural and racism as unnatural. Therefore these examples show how Shakespeare’s Othello, and it’s appropriation, Geoffrey sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times.
Many older plays or movies are remade to appeal to a different age of people. These renditions often follow the same story line with only subtle differences to be more appealing. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have been made into movies to enhance the studying or understanding of his plays. An example of this would be Othello which has been created into a movie called “O”. Othello and “O” both follow the same story line. The similarities between them make "O" an excellent rendition of the play. Othello by William Shakespeare and “O” directed by Tim Nelson are very similar in many ways; however, they have distinct differences in their Protagonists. The heinous villain, Iago from Othello and the devious teenager, Hugo from “O” have many of the
To begin, race is the first and clearest of differences between Othello and other major characters. However race is also the least seen issue in the play. Racism is, as stated by Martin Okin “confined to Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio” (Orkin, “Othello: and the”). Emilia herself has her moments of racism, going from using Moor as a describer of Othello to using it as an insult. Brabantio shows this racism when he discovers that Othello has wed his daughter stating:
Racism in William Shakespeare's Othello. The play, Othello, is certainly, in part, the tragedy of racism. Examples of racism are common throughout the dialogue. This racism is directed toward Othello, a brave soldier from Africa and currently the supreme commander of the Venetian army.
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.
Have you ever thought about how much Othello’s race and the racism around him affected his life? Othello struggled a lot during the play because of his dark skin color. He was called several racist names like “the Moor,” “old black ram,” “Barbary horse,” and “thick lips” (Shakespeare 1.1.40; 1.1.88; 1.1.111; 1.1.66).The term “racism” has been around for several years; it started in the twentieth century (Bartels 433). By the way the Elizabethan era viewed black people was similar to how racism is today with all of the racial comments, and stereotypes. Being a black person in a mostly white ethnicity area at that time had to be challenging based on Othello’s experience. Othello was the black sheep crowded around a herd of white sheep, he was an outcast. Racist comments were made by many of the characters like Iago, Brabantio, Roderigo, and Emilia. If there was an award for most used racial comment towards Othello, Iago would win. Racism in Othello had a tremendous impact on Othello. He was judged by the color of his skin and not his personality. Othello’s race and the racism around him affected his life by ruining his marriage with Desdemona, alienating him from everybody in Venice, and by making him an easy target to be manipulated by Iago.
In the Sixteenth century, as we see clearly from Othello and other works of both Shakespeare and Cinthio's original version of Othello, race was a topic of great debate and discussion. Today, in the twenty-first century the debate retains its controversy and passion. However, attitudes towards race have taken a dramatic turn during the last century. In the developed world people are now living in an increasingly cosmopolitan society would undoubtedly be more tolerant and would reject or even be offended by racial discrimination to any person or sections of the community. Openly 'racist' people today are seen as outcasts. Taking this into account, the way a modern audience would react to race and racism in Othello is dependent upon the way in which that modern audience would interpret 'Othello'. This prompts the questions of what sort of message Shakespeare wanted to send to his audience and was Othello the moor portrayed as a tragic hero or did his character eventually come to resemble the prejudices of which he was a victim. Shakespeare also discusses the issue of race with other characters such as the hateful Iago and the prejudices hidden deep in Barbantio.
Oliver Parkers film interpretation of Shakespeare's Othello uses cinematic techniques to express to the audience two major themes present in the original play. Appearance verses reality and racial discrimination are both significant themes that Parker focuses on throughout the film. Through the use of camera angles, language, tone, symbols, costuming and voice-over, Parker conveys clarity of the themes for the audience to interpret.