Major Differences In Shakespeare's 'Othello'

Major differences

Shakespeare 's Othello is set in Venice and Cyprus. Lester sets his after novel in the late fifteenth century to early sixteenth century England era. There is a major difference in the characterization of the play’s central characters, Othello and Iago.

Blurb Lester makes the claim that, in Shakespeare’s play, Othello’s race is not crucial to the unfolding of the tragedy—partly because Shakespeare’s Othello is “deracinated, i.e., besides his skin color, there is nothing African about him” (Lester XII). Another radical departure from the original play was making Iago and Emily African. The main reason for this change was to dismiss Iago’s jealousy as mere racism—making race far more central in the novel. In addition, Lester

Lester uses Shakespeare’s language in three different ways:

1. Exactly as it appears in the play

2. By paraphrasing if there are allusions in the original that reflect Elizabethan society in a way not readily comprehensible now

3. By putting images, concepts and syntax in a more contemporary context

Synopsis of the Lester’s Othello

The novel opens a with scene of Desdemona longing for Othello. Readers establish that she is sixteen years old and that Othello is twice her age. We also discover that Emily is black—and “[Iago] and Othello are darker than Emily, as dark as night” (4). After the men return from war, it is evident that Desdemona and Michael have always

How had he adjusted to life there? Did he miss his homeland? What had his homeland been like? Who had he been in his homeland? What was his name in Africa? Did he think of himself as European or African, or both?” (Lester XII)

Notable quotes

Othello: “Their memories were not his. Without a lifetime of shared memories, how could he belong to them? How could they know him?” (17)

Lord Bertrand: “[Othello] does not give one the opportunity to forget his blackness…[Iago] your skin may be black but your soul’s as white as any man’s, and that’s what counts” (27) Father Thomas “Satan was riding earlier than usual this night. Lord Bertrand would want his head once he learned that the priest had married his daughter to a black man.” (41)

“Although the king was fond of Othello, Iago was willing to wager the king was more fond of his whiteness. He would not be pleased to imagine white lips and black ones joined” (48)

Othello: “And how could he have so deceived himself to believe that a woman as white as the new moon would love one as black as the heavens surrounding it?”