Being pressed for time and money, Orson Welles tried his hardest to recreate an accurate depiction of the Shakespeare play, Othello. Unfortunately, it turned out less than spectacular, and it was a blemish on the otherwise great career Welles had as a director. Although some may say the use of shadows to show characterization was stellar, it was not enough to salvage the otherwise poor decision-making in the movie. The casting is the most striking different interpretation that Welles put on display in the movie.
Emilia, who was Desdemona’s servant and Iago’s wife, was a voice for the women in Shakespeare’s original play. She and Iago’s marriage was incredibly tumultuous, with Iago constantly regarding her as an object rather than an actual human being. When regarding men, she states, “They eat us hungerly, and when they are full / they belch us” (III.iv.122-123). Emilia is a strong, independent woman who is not afraid of speaking her opinion. She does not like being told what to do anymore, and she stands up for Desdemona throughout the play. Although she plays a meaningful part in the play, Welles seemed to have diminished her presence and fortitude by having an older woman play her. She just does not have the same power as Emilia in Shakespeare’s play would have. When she looks old in the movie, she will not be able to establish presence because her age does not fit in with her characteristics given to her by Shakespeare. Also, when she is counseling Desdemona in the movie in their room, (right before Othello kills Desdemona), she seems almost like just somebody that is “reading their lines” and she never established presence within the movie. Desdemona just seems to be listening to her because she has to, and she is not saying...
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...d of trying to save money and play Othello himself, Welles should have looked for an actor of dark skin (not necessarily African American) and found one with great stage presence, and someone who can effectively portray the complicated role of Othello. Welles just could not characterize Othello clearly enough, taking away from a lot of the accuracy of the movie.
Welles did indeed try to work with what he had. Limited money, time, and resources all pressured Welles in ways unimaginable to many human beings. However, that does not offset the fact that there were many errors and mistakes made by Welles that diminished the movie in general. Many obvious blunders were made in the casting, creating a movie that was inaccurate and porous within the characters. Had Welles not made the mistakes that he did while casting, the film might have been more relevant and accurate.
When Shakespeare composed the tragedy Othello televisions were not. Along with no televisions, life in the late 1500s had many different qualities than it does today. This time period had no war on drugs and no high school shootings. Peer pressure was not an issue. The audiences of Othello in the 1500s did not face the circumstances that we, American high school students, face today. With these significant differences in daily life, come the attempts of movie creators to help prevent our modern day tragedies.
She is the only one who is involved but not counted in Iago's scheme. Desdemona shall die, Cassio shall die, but Iago does not plan anything to prevent Emilia from speaking, because he does not anticipate Emilia will abandon her husband for Desdemona. Yet Emilia speaks, and speaks an extremely defenseless thus courageous speech. When Othello tries to stab Iago, he is disarmed twice, once even after everybody has realized what a villain Iago is (Othello 5.2 242&292). But nobody disarms Iago either when he threatens Emilia with his sword or when he stabs Emilia (Othello 4.2 228&242). She is armless but not powerless. The truth she speaks brings justice in, wins the audience's respect, and shows the potential power of a female
...e. The play Othello focuses on the tragedy of the main character Othello to point out flaws in a generally good character; it teaches the readers valuable lessons to becomes better human beings by not making the same mistakes as Othello does in the play.
The highly acclaimed Citizen Kane creates drama and suspense to the viewer. Orson Welles designed this film to enhance the viewer’s opinion about light and darkness, staging, proxemics, personal theme development, and materialism. Creating one of the most astounding films to the cinematography world, Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography. It is an amazing film and will have an everlasting impact on the world of film.
She is a caregiver. Emilia becomes close to young Desdemona. It could be implied that Emilia is a older than Desdemona, and not just because she is stated as “young Des”, but also because she is a bit naive. This is revealed when Emilia and Desdemona talking about women cheating on their husbands. Desdemona says, “I do not think there is any such woman.” With this she is trying to say that she doesn’t think any women would be capable or actually cheats on their husband. Emilia, then explains that many women do it and it's not their fault it’s their husbands. Emilia: “Yes, a dozen; and as many to th’ vantage as would store the world they play’d for. But I do think it is their husbands’ faults, If wives do fall.” In essence, Emilia is teaching young, naive Desdemona things she wouldn’t know if she didn’t have her. If she didn’t have a caregiver, and most importantly an important
Emilia represents another aspect of female strength, less logical character, which relies on her sense of instinct. She understands her role as a wife (act 4, scene 3) Emilia is talking to Desdemona about husbands. " Yet we have some revenge. Let husbands know Their wives have sense like them. They see, and smell, and have their palates both for sweet and sour, As husbands have. What is it they do When they change us for others? Is it sport? I think it is. And doth affection breed it? I think it doth. Is't fraility that thus errs? It is so too. And have not we affections, Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?"(page 217 line 104-113). Emilia and her husband Iago have different affiliation than Desdemona and Othello. Desdemona and Othello truly love each other, while Emilia, having no common sense of hatred towards Othello, has never actually loved Iago. She educate Desdemona, she is ignorant of Iago's evil nature and is also unsuspecting of his plot against Othello.
William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Othello” shows how a manipulative villain can create chaos within a society. The play was written around the year 1603 and takes place in Venice Italy before it is repositioned to Cyprus. This Shakespearean tragedy shows the effects of jealousy, love, desire, betrayal and passion in a society with an imbalance of power in a race, gender, and social position.
Emilia has a fierce sense of loyalty. After Desdemona’s death she catches wind of Iago’s malicious scheme, and swears that, “I’ll make [Iago’s scheme] known,/ Though I lost twenty lives” (V.ii.87). Emilia had been a close friend of Desdemona’s throughout the play, and her death had a large impact on Emilia, who thought nothing but kindness and virtue of her late friend. Even when Othello tries convincing Emilia that “[Desdemona] turn’d to folly, and she was a whore” (V.ii.85), Emilia stays adamant on the fact that Desdemona would never cheat. Up until the point that Iago murders her, Emilia fights for the truth and defends her friend with a sense of loyalty unfathomable
Othello is noble, tender, and confiding; but he has blood of the most inflammable kind. Unfortunately, Othello was naïve enough to be swayed by Iagos misplaced trustworthiness and the accusations cause the entire play to unfold. Once someone brings up a sense of all his wrong doings, he cannot be stopped by considerations of remorse of pity until Othello has extinguished all that fuels his rage and despair. Othello is described as a “Moor” by his critics (Brabantio, Iago). A “Moor” is a slang word used for the dark skinned appearance of the Muslim people from the northwest part of Africa.
An aspect of reading Othello that cannot be overlooked is the issue of race in the play. Attitudes towards race in Elizabethan England were negative. If we look at representations of different races in theatre of the period, we find that there are many negative connotations through the language that arise. The Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice says “Mislike me not for my complexion.” (The Merchant of Venice.) This foreshadows some of the language of Othello. This however is quite soft language when we consider how Elizabethan theatre represented other races as being violent and bloodthirsty. In this we have, “In the night-time secretly would I steal to travellers’ chambers, and there cut their throats.” (The Jew of Malta.) This was said by the Turkish character in Marlowe’s, “The Jew of Malta.” Furthermore in, The Battle of Alcazar we have, “Dammed let him be, dammed and condemned to bear. All torments, tortures, plagues and pains of hell.” So as you can see through out Elizabethan theatre this villainous image of black men, and blackness in general was prevalent. In this period in London it wasn’t necessarily a common place for blacks but there were defiantly African Americans living in London. They appear in England in the late 16th century, and it was not entirely uncommon for people of wealth to have black musicians, servants, and even Queen Elizabeth had black musicians in her service. However, in 1596 she tried to have them all expelled. What historians have found is that there were hardly any really expelled, because people who had black servants in their household, refuse to give them up because there was no compensation. According to Imtiaz Habib, Shakespeare would have definitely ...
Being the only different person in the room is hard; constantly being judged, and never actually fitting in; it can drive even the most normal person insane. The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare is a play about a general who is different: the only one who’s black. No one else in Venice is from Africa, and with such a high position in the Venetian military, Othello’s race is almost non-existent, he appears to actually fit in along with the rest of the fair-skinned people. In this play, Shakespeare develops the motif of racism as a seed that grows, and eventually creates a sociopath full of hatred. Overall, racism is a viral disease that encircle us, and subconsciously controls our actions.
...whelmed by jealousy and rage and murdered his wife. Overall, Othello showed numerous characteristics of a great fighter who at that time is associated with Black people. However, there are parts of the story that show Othello is a learned man and can discuss and argue with others. Even though creating,viewing and reading increased my understanding of ‘The Moor’ concept, creating was the brought me the most understand of ‘The Moor’ concept out of these three medias. Recreating the piece allowed me to further understand the cultural and social aspects of ‘The Moor’ especially when the conceit of our plotline was motivated by the audience imperative. When we wrote the script, we maintained the basic plotline but twisted it a bit through changing setting and the language and the costumes to allow the audience imperative to understand the play and connect to it better.
Othello is the central character of the story and Shakespeare emphasizes his nobility and charisma. He has "magic" in the words he uses and the stories he tells and his ability to speak towers above other characters. He is an excellent officer and possesses the virtues of honesty and fortitude.
First, in order to defend Desdemona's chastity, Emilia challenges the societal norm of silence. Recall the incident when Othello calls Desdemona a "whore" for cheating. In response, Emilia protests loudly against Othello and attempts to disprove his belief that Desdemona is not chaste: "A halter pardon him [Othello]! And hell gnaw his bones! / Why should he call her [Desdemona] whore? (4.2. 143,144). Instead of Emilia conforming to the attribute of Renaissance women as silent, she condemns Othello for his false accusations against her mistress, Desdemona. Later in the play, after finding Desdemona killed, Emilia challenges silence again: "As ignorant as dirt! Thou hast done a deed-... / The Moor hath killed my mistress!" (5.2. 171,174). Although Othello tells Emilia that it would be "best" for her to remain silent, she ignores his request and ridicules him for killing "sweet" Desdemona (5.2. 169).
In Shakespeare’s Othello, race is a concept that is only minimally explored. Characters in the play assume that, since they are English, they are superior and foreign characters (like Othello the Moor) are inferior. This is not questioned much at all, and in fact it is assumed outright that Othello is indeed a lesser man because of his skin color and the ways in which characters like Iago and Roderigo treat him. While an early modern audience would accept this concept without hesitation, an audience of today’s age is left to question whether Othello is actually acting out because of the societal pressures, beliefs, and actions put upon him, or because he is inherently different as a person who is not white. While Shakespeare seems to think the contrary, Othello’s development in his actions and words—from a confident general to a depressed, wife-killing maniac—show clearly that his demise and his reactions were products of his peers (namely, Iago) and that he is not inherently different because of his race. Ultimately, it was all Iago’s fault.