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William Shakespeare's Othello is only moderately interested in questions of race and racism. For Shakespeare, Othello's blackness was mainly a plot device. Though the bard did demonstrate concerns about racial and religious prejudice, in Othello and The Merchant of Venice, his interest in the tragedy of the Moor was principally psychological. For Shakespeare and his contemporary audience, Othello was about jealousy, hatred, and vindictiveness.
The play has aged well, as have all Shakespeare's plays, but not, perhaps, in the ways Shakespeare's contemporaries would have predicted. In Shakespeare's time, it would have been acceptable for Othello to kill his wife, had she truly been unfaithful. What made Othello a tragic criminal to Shakespeare and his Globe audience was that the Moor misjudged his wife. That is no longer the case in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This age does not recognize Othello's right to murder his wife under any set of circumstances. We do, however, live in a time that has become increasingly sensitive to race issues. The civil rights movement of the 1960s paved the way for the sometimes stifling political correctness of the 1990s and early 21st century. Film versions of Othello made since the 1960s reflect our time's preoccupation with race. This paper will look at several film versions of Othello in this light. Filmed versions of the drama--directed by Orson Welles (1952), Stuart Burge (1965), Oliver Parker (1995), Tim Blake Nelson (2000), and Geoff Saxes (2001)--visually boost or minimize the race factor in the story, subject to the political ideas of their time.
In the first Hollywood version of Othello (1952), directed by Orson Welles, race was not an issue. Instead, Welles' film dealt with ...
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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
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
Snyder, Susan. “Othello: A Modern Perspective.” Shakespeare: Othello. Eds. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993.
External and internal influences are relevant in health care. These influences continue to affect the total operations of a health care facility. I will summarize the insights I have gained into the external influences of the new health care reform policy and quality initiatives. The recent health care reform legislation was passed in the house and senate this year. The senior vice president, that I have interviewed, states that health care reform is an “unknown” for organizations. In addition, I will research the quality improvement initiatives and how these external influences include implications for organizations and health care administrators.
Orkin, Martin. “Othello and the “plain face” Of Racism.” 2nd ed. Vol. 38. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 166-88. Shakespeare Quarterly. Folger Shakespeare Library in Association with George Washington University, Summer 1987. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .
Healthcare is one of the most dynamic industries in our great nation. To truly understand just how dynamic the industry is, one needs to understand that healthcare in and of itself is a living, breathing industry that is ever changing and conforming to meet the ideals set forth from a broad group of stakeholders. When one looks at the evolution that healthcare has undergone in the past 165 years, the picture of the true dynamics of this industry is painted. One must take this evolutional history into account when looking at the next ten years in our industry. When looking at these evolutional processes, one can see that the systems have changed as our country and its people have required it to (Williams & Torrens, 2008). When looking at how this industry will change or evolve over the next decade, one can ascertain that it will be by the demands of those involved that change will come.
The movie O directed by Tim Blake Nelson is a modernized version of the play Othello written by William Shakespeare. Both the film and the play bear striking similarities, although this adaptation of Otello also includes some different characteristics than the original play text. The similarities and differences are distinguished through the modernized plot, cinematic techniques used to illustrate the play text as a tragedy and successfully retaining the tragic structure of the play Othello.
...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.
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...
Berry, Edward. “Othello’s Alienation.” Studies in English Literature 30.2 (1990): 315-33. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
Berry, Edward. “Othello’s Alienation.” Studies in English Literature 30.2 (1990): 315-33. JSTOR. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
The color imagery of Othello influences many characters; some are influenced to hate or love Othello because of “black” and “white,” while Othello himself is driven to murder, particularly with red imagery. While each color plays its own role throughout the text, they all greatly contribute to the characters' behaviors and actions … leading to the play's tragic end.
Shakespeare’s “Othello,” one of his most well-known works, tells the story of a Venetian Moor named Othello and his tragic fall at the hands of a manipulating and deceptive Iago. The 1995 film adaptation of “Othello” by Oliver Parker attempts to capture the spirit of the play that Shakespeare envisioned. Though trying its best to stay as true to the original play as possible, it does at times depart from Shakespeare’s version. In Oliver Parker’s version of Othello, the film relies heavily on the setting, costumes and acting of the actors, portrays the characters differently than they are presented in the original work, and adds a variety of scenes while removing other aspects of the play.