Differences And Similarities Between Othello And Oj Simpson

A black man is respected by many at a time when few other members of his race are able to break through the racial barriers of the white dominated country he calls home. He falls in love with and marries a white girl. However, he is to see his fall from grace through his relationship with his wife. A wife he physically abuses and later murders. This scenario is true for two men, O.J. Simpson and Othello. One is the fictional Venetian general from the 1603 Shakespeare play. The other, one of the greatest American athletes of the 20th century. While these two may appear to be two very different men, their stories bear many similarities.

In the 1603 play Othello by William Shakespeare, the main character, Othello, is a Moor living in Venice

who is a general in the Venetian army. A Moor is a member of the race of North African Muslims who ruled North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. In the play, Othello is well respected despite the fact that he is a black male in white dominated Venice due to his public service in the army. In the first act of the play, the Duke refers to Othello as “valiant”(I.iii.56), showing respect to Othello and showing that Othello was a respected individual. Othello falls in love with and marries Desdemona, a white girl who was younger than him. He eventually publicly assaults and kills her after being told by his friend Iago that Desdemona had an affair with another man, Cassio. Othello was so enraged by Desdemona possibly being with another man that it causes him to eventually kill her. In the fourth act of the play, Othello strikes Desdemona in public in front of Lodovico and Iago which is an example of him physically abusing her. In the fifth and final act of the play, Othello kills Desdemona by smothering her with a pillow which leads to his fall from grace. It is shown that Othello murdering Desdemona leads to his fall from grace as it causes people Emilia to no longer refer to him as valiant but instead as a “blacker devil”(V.i.161). Othello’s regrets about how he treated Desdemona leads to his suicide. As he is about to kill himself, Othello says, "Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate. Nor set down aught in malice. Then you must speak of one who loved not wisely, but too well"(V.ii.402-404). Therefore, Othello thought of his situation and what he had done to Desdemona as a result of his unwise but immense love for her. That is how Othello was a respected black male in a white society who fell from grace due to him physically abusing his wife.

On the other hand, O.J.

Simpson was an African-American male who rose to prominence during an era of American history of much racial tension. Simpson played college football for the University of Southern California during the 1960s, at a time when a substantial amount of the country was under racial segregation. In 1968, just four years after the passing of the Civil Rights Act and the same year as the passing of the Voting Rights Act, O.J. Simpson won the Heisman Trophy, the highest honor or award for a college football player. Simpson transcended racial barriers by winning the highest award available in his field at a time when African-Americans were not seen as fully equal under the law. Simpson went on to have a successful career playing in the National Football League where he won two Super Bowls and broke records by becoming the first player to rush two thousand yards in a season. Doing so made him well respected in the predominantly white United States. Simpson was so respected that ABC News once referred to him as “an American icon” who was “revered” by the public(Deutsch et al.). Simpson eventually married a young white woman named Nicole Brown. Simpson physically abused Brown throughout their marriage and is believed to have murdered her. Brown was murdered after being stabbed over 20 times on June 12, 1994 and in a highly criminal case, Simpson was acquitted on the charge of murdering her. The murder of Brown and the trial led to Simpson’s fall from grace in

the public eye. This can be shown by the June 1994 cover of TIME magazine which referred to the situation as an “American Tragedy” due to an “American icon” becoming a murderer in the eyes of the general public. On June 17, 1994 after the initial suspicion that Simpson murdered Brown, Simpson famously was about to commit suicide by shooting himself during the Bronco chase in an emotional response to the situation. As he was planning to commit suicide, Simpson wrote a note in which he said, "... I loved her, always have and always will. If we had a problem, it's because I loved her too much."(Lewis) Simpson therefore believed that his situation with Nicole was caused by his immense love for her. In the criminal trial, prosecutor Christopher Darden alleged that, "Mr. Simpson could not stand to lose her so he murdered her,"(Hall). Should that allegation be true, that means that he murdered his wife because he did not want her to be with anyone but him. In a 1996 civil suit, Simpson was found to be liable for Brown’s death, supporting the likely claim that he murdered her. That is how O.J. Simpson was a respected black male in a white society who fell from grace due to him physically abusing his wife.

In the above stories of Othello and O.J.

Simpson, there are many similarities to be noticed. Both Othello and Simpson were respected black males in a white dominated society, Othello in Venice and O.J. in 20th century America . Both Othello and Simpson married white women younger than them, Othello married Desdemona and Simpson married Nicole Brown. Both Othello and Simpson physically abused their wives. Othello murdered his wife, Desdemona, because he was angered by claims that she was cheating on him. Simpson was accused of murdering his wife, Nicole, for the same reason. Both Othello and Simpson believed that their situations with their wives were caused by their immense love for them. Othello committed suicide due to emotional regret over murdering his wife while Simpson contemplated suicide due to his emotional reaction to the death of his ex-wife and the allegations that he murdered

her.

In conclusion, O.J. Simpson and the character Othello share many similarities as both were respected black men in a white dominated society who fell from grace by physically abusing and later murdering their wife for similar reasons due to their immense love for her, with Simpson doing so to Nicole Brown and Othello doing so to Desdemona.