‘Othello’ in itself as a play is very dramatic and appeals to an audience today just as much as it did then because many people can relate to the themes in it and also because the story line is so thrilling. The play ‘Othello’ would’ve been very striking in Shakespearian times as the union of a Black Muslim and a White Christian would’ve been rare and frowned upon. Black people at the time were thought of as savages and monsters and being Muslim would’ve made it worse. This contrast of two completely opposite people was shocking and therefore would have attracted many people, as it was unusual. Also in the end Othello kills her mercilessly, which for people would’ve reflected an idea they had on Othello’s ‘kind’.
At the start of Act 5, Scene 2, Othello enters the stage and comes with the intention of killing Desdemona. On stage there is only one torch burning and so most of the stage would be in darkness, In the Trevor Nunn production ‘Othello’ the only things visible to the audience would be the fair Desdemona lying asleep in her white wedding sheets and the black Othello, the man playing Othello (Willard White) wears black robes in this scene. This contrast of black and white is clearly visible to the audience. Firstly the darkness on the stage will give the audience a sense of foreboding. This would increase the tension.. Shakespeare has intentionally used this contrast of black and white for dramatic impact. The colour black of Othello and his clothes will be seen as a representation of evil. The colour black is symbolic of badness and the fear of the colour is used even in literature, for example ‘black mail or ‘black hole’, where as the white been seen as good with phrases such as ‘whitewash’ or ‘whiter than white’. Othe...
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...k on thy sins’ and Desdemona replies ‘They are the loves I bear for you.’ This shows the audience the love of Desdemona is. It’ll also lead to the audience hating Othello for believing the evil Iago plotting agaist him.
In my opinion in this scene Shakespeare has used dramatic impact. Some critic from Shakespeares time said ‘the tragical part (of ‘Othello’) is none other than a bloody farce, without salt or savour.’-Thomas Rhymer, but I disagree with this and think Act 5, Scene 2 is like an emotional rollercoaster with the deaths and with all the loose ends bieng tied up and believe the audience would’ve enjoyed Othello and the last sequence would help them realise the importance of trust and jealousy. I conclude it would make the audience feel they understand some things like trust better also conclude it had a huge dramtic impact as it would affect an audience.
Othello’s feelings toward Desdemona are vacillating. He loathes her for her infidelity and, at the same time, he is devoted to the faithful Desdemona he once knew. These conflicting emotions are developed using a mixture of metaphor and contrast.
Othello’s blackness, his marriage with Desdemona, and the murder of her are all three important structural elements of Othello and are a...
Desdemona’s apparent love for Othello is born out of pity, drawing question to whether or not she truly loves Othello. Desdemona fell in love with Othello through his stories, which she would listen to with a “greedy ear”. “Greedy” does not have a good connotation, evoking a feeling of distraught and untrust of the person being described with this word. Othello recognizes that Desdemona pities his stories saying, “My story being done, / She gave me for my pains a world of sighs. / She swore, in faith, ‘twas strange, ‘twas passing strange, / ‘Twas pitiful, ‘twas wondrous pitiful” (I iii 182-186). Desdemona finds the stories of his life pitiful and that is the reason she enjoyed listening to his stories and the reason she fell in love with him. Othello accepts that Desdemona loves him because she pities him, but the reason he loves her is because she pities him, “She loved me for the dangers I had pass’d, / And I loved her that she did pity them” (I iii 188-189). Their relationship is one based on Desdemona’s pity for Othello, they do not have a true love, which goes against the virginal idea of her. Iago sees the true
Othello, from the onset, is shown to us a play of love and jealousy. There is however more to this play than just love and jealousy; there is underlying racism, hate, deception, pride, and even sexism between these pages. Othello is a transcendent play, one that will survive the perils of time simply because it is still relevant. Even today, over 400 years later, there are still issues of racism and sexism. Hate is as natural as love in humans and Othello gets right to the root of that. We witness this from the very first scene, “…you’ll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse/ you’ll have your nephews neigh to you” (I.i.112-14); to the very last, “Moor she was chaste. She loved thee, cruel Moor” (V.ii.258). Moor however is used as an insult all throughout the play; not so much the word itself but the feel of the word. Between these pages we see many different ways as to how the cultural differences between Othello and the other characters.
Iago talks about jealousy and deception in this same scene, but never gives any proof or direct descriptions of Desdemona's betrayal. Yet we know that Othello's perception has been sufficiently influenced to make him angry and sick by the end of this conversation. He tells Desdemona he has a headache, but he refuses any help from her. When she puts her handkerchief to his head, he pushes it away saying, "your napkin is too little" (3.3.285). This takes on more significance later on in the play when we find out that this handkerchief is the first token of love Othello ever gave to Desdemona.
...velops a sense of alienation towards his character as he is thought to be unacceptable for a white woman to marry. Drama critic Martin Orkin concludes this issues by stating that the ‘subject matter of Othello demands that we recognize the matter of colour and the possibility of prejudice’ in society today. However it can be argued that the issue of racism alienating Othello and causing stress did not exist in the 1600 as prideful Othello himself claims “My parts, my title and my perfect soul/Shall manifest me rightly” he’s unaware that ‘the matter of colour and the possibility of prejudice’ can even cross his ‘title and perfect soul’. Unlike Blanche, this egoistic persona which Shakespeare has incorporated in Othello could perhaps contrast with Orkin’s interpretation of Othello as a victim of prejudice as it could influence the audience from sympathising with him.
“Graduate students have more quickly and thoroughly transcended language barriers” (Shakespeare 14). Shakespeare is written in Early Modern English, significantly different than today 's English language. Shakespeare language compares to the Romance language, that experiences these difficulties of translating the language. Many textual meanings and personal annotations are presented in this book. Now we transition to talking about the book Othello itself. Many think Othello is a black African, but really Shakespeare is portraying Othello as a Moor. A Moor is characterized as an African Muslim, however, many believe that Shakespeare is identifying him as black or a Negro. “Racial and cultural difference in Othello 's psychology and behavior” make this personal for some readers (Shakespeare
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.
There had been a lot of travelling and blacks were beginning to be used in Europe for the slave trade. During the time the play was written, the Queen of England had banned all blacks from entering the city. She spoke of them as "Negars and Moors which are crept into the realm, of which kind of people there are already here too many". It seems that Shakespeare is almost mocking the Queen by characterising Othello as a black man who has a high ranking position in the Army and who marries a white aristocratic women, against her fathers will.
Othello throughout history has been talked about; his story has been handed down from generation to generation. Most of Williams plays pull on the strings of the heart and Othello is one that pulls a little bit too hard. Othello is mostly about blind passion, and an antagonist who twists and turns everyone against each other and ends up destroying a man, due to overhearing a rumor. One of the greatest things about Othello is that shows the human heart raw, for what it really is. It uses the blind passion in its characters and starts a fire in the reader’s heart. There are three reasons why Othello is most likely to get a response out of its viewers, first off people understand the characters; second people get a look into the mind of a man
F. R. Leavis discusses the breakdown of sympathy for Othello, arguing that ‘Othello is too stupid to be regarded as a tragic hero’. Other critics also argue that Shakespeare ‘fully exploits the unique cultural opportunity to develop a more complex and sympathetic representation of black experience’ [The Noble Moor – Othello and Race in Elizabethan London, Roger Lees], implying that the sympathy that a contemporary audience would have felt for Othello was based oncultural context, given that the audience were predominantly white. However, it could be argued that it cannot just be the cultural context to Shakespeare’s audiences that has allowed Othello to become one of his most renowned tragedies; if this were the case, the play would have lost all critical interest by the 18th Century. It is Shakespeare’s use of the conventions of tragedy in attributing Othello with hubris that, although making it hard to empathise with at times, in the...
Essential to the success of Othello is the fact that the issues and themes explored in this tragedy, written by Shakespeare in about 1604, are still relevant to the modern audience. The interest of an audience is held by themes that are fundamental to the human condition, as these reflect our world and examine human nature. Othello explores the issues of racism, gender, domestic violence, the supernatural and the pathology of the entirely evil person, which are all remarkably relevant to our time. Thus the interest of the audience is held, as issues that affect the viewers and readers of the play spark individual opinions, reflection and thought.
Shakespeare explores the mechanisms of evil as well as ideas held by the Jacobean society in the play Othello. Analysing the play exposes it 's changing views towards dominant ideas of the society in which it was produced. Early in the play the derogatory black stereotype of the time and patriarchy are challenged. The play later contrasts this and endorses patriarchy and the black stereotype. Othello supports the belief of Christianity through the repetition of Heaven and Hell and Eurocentric idea through its structure. The development, dialogue and actions of Iago, Othello, Desdemona, Emilia and Cassio influence the play 's attitude towards the dominant ideas.
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?”
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 perceptions, thus broadening my understanding of Othello.