19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Marshall, 1992, p
"Witness, you ever-burning lights above, You elements that clip us round about, Witness that here Iago doth give up, The execution of his wit, hands, heart, To wronged Othello's service. Let him command…" (Shakespeare & Neill, 2006, p
Othello was noble born and retained the top-most rank in his country's military, as Governor General which alone displays strength, self-belief and nobility. His rank and status defined a man with tremendous esteem among the general public as well (Altman, 2010)
Othello was noble born and retained the top-most rank in his country's military, as Governor General which alone displays strength, self-belief and nobility. His rank and status defined a man with tremendous esteem among the general public as well (Altman, 2010)
Like Oedipus, Othello was also ranked as a noble in the society which is disclosed with the very first mention of Othello. Othello here is talking ot Iago and telling him about his family which is as recognized and rich as the family of Desdemona (Dominguez-Rue and Mrotzekb, 2012)
Even his self-confidence of the individuals as well as Governor General's allegiance to him contributed majorly in his negative traits, so it can be said that his constructive qualities were liable for his flaws as well. His negative qualities include the insecurities which take the face of suspicion for Desdemona and his nature of trusting in everyone (Porter, 2005)
This finally led to the execution of Desdemona, whom he loved till the end; this resulted in his death as well. These circumstances in the story were depicted in an intense, passionate, emotional, deep and short story and his ability to establish emotional and deep characters still continues to be exceptional at present times (Smith, 2008)
Throughout the story, Othello is indicated as the army's head, which indicates an army's or the soldiers' commander and has been held in admiration by his fellow fighters as well as the general populace. He has also been recognized for his military skills and tactics and has been proven as a men's leader (Stoll, 1943)
"Kenneth Branagh, perhaps better focused since he's only acting in this piece, makes Iago a chillingly rational character whose acerbic asides to the camera draw the audience into his plot almost as an accomplice." (Berardinelli) Seeing the story from Iago's point-of-view gives new insight into the murderous plot of the original story
"Odin has run afoul of Hugo (Josh Hartnett in the Iago role), a hoops teammate silently enraged by the feeling that his utilitarian talents are going unrecognized in Odin's long shadow -- even by the coach, Hugo's own father (Martin Sheen)." (Blackwelder) Like Shakespeare's original and Parker's version, Odin's fame and popularity and his love for Desi Brable played by Julia Stiles who is the daughter of the school's headmaster just tees Hugo off
The question that is not asked often is -- does it really matter what the skin color Othello has on stage? Thesis: racism has no doubt played a role in the many Othello characters that have appeared on stage, but the play is so brilliantly composed that if indeed bigoted attitudes are trying to determine what skin color The Moor should have, as long as the presentation of the play's scenes are followed professionally, what does race matter? Who were the Moors? Professor Catherine Alexander writes in the book Shakespeare and Race that the Moors invaded and conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the Eighth Century, and they established an Islamic culture in the peninsula. As to their skin tone, in the Middle Ages the Moors were known as "negars and blackamoors," but Spanish Moors were not dark skinned at all, Alexander writes on page 69 (Alexander, et al
Among the well-known passages in Shakespeare's play -- following the opening during which Iago and Roderigo, two "quasi-Spaniards," speak with hatred, "envy and derision toward "The Moor" -- is this statement from the Moor: "When you prick us, do we not bleed?" To Iago and Roderigo, the Moor is a "civilized barbarian of fierce if repressed lusts," but to the playwright, The Moor is among a race of "displaced and dispossessed" peoples (Alexander, 71). Meanwhile, Michael Dobson is Professor of Renaissance Drama at the University of Surrey Roehampton, and he points out that Shakespeare's use of "Moor" is "notoriously imprecise" notwithstanding that there has been "extensive scholarship" on that topic (Dobson, 2001)
She quipped that actors who used "coffee-colored grease paint" looked more like they had just returned from "Palm Beach" with a nice dark tan than they did playing Othello (Kolin, 33). That "Awkward Moment When Othello is Black" Stanford University has a Center for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, and a writer in that program explains that audiences in Shakespeare's era "…experienced extreme awkwardness when faced with the theatrical reality that Othello was some black guy" (Kadue, 2012)
Racism: Othello characters' skin shades through the years English Professor Philip C. Kolin notes that the very first Othello, Richard Burbage, played the role in blackface, and during the Restoration and the eighteenth century, actors played the role of Othello as "comfortably black" (Kolin, 2013)
Avanna Thompson, writing in the peer-reviewed Shakespeare Bulletin, insists that Shakespeare's play was not written for "…black or even dark skinned actors. Instead, Othello was a white man in blackface makeup" (Thompson, 2009)
Racism is known to be a major cause of wars between people of different culture and countries. It influences slavery and the formation of legal codes in some countries (Rawls 33)
He managed to have Cassio get drunk and participate in some form of disturbance. When Othello learned of the disturbance, he demoted Cassio (Sandel 3)
His explosive anger, for instance, is certainly a human quality. As Steven Lattimore states, Oedipus reveals the truth of his very nature in his argument with the priest, who lays the blame for the plague at Oedipus' own feet: "the Teiresias/Oedipus scene reveals the resources and essential natures of the two men" (Lattimore 105) and shows the degree to which Oedipus can swing from nobility to common wrath
2). In fact, it is this sense of purging that most distinguishes the tragedy from the comedy or epic (for instance) in that it is the tragedy alone that possesses the emotions of fear and pity and, therefore, has the power to rid corresponding tension from the reader of audience (Gellrich, 1988)
Iago can only do so due to Othello's "open" nature, which allows him to attribute an honesty within men that is actually not there. This honesty is more than likely due to Othello's own upstanding nature, since never in the play is he "characterized as an able dissembler" (Andrews, 1973, p