OTHELLO – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - BLOGCHATTERA2ZCHALLENGE2022

                                                       Penguin Random House

“O beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on.”

These words spoken by the devious Iago to his master, Othello, form the crux of the play, ‘Othello’, one of the tragedies of the Bard. Shakespeare certainly knew how to play on the emotions of his spectators through the various failings that assail the human race.

‘The Tragedy of Othello – The Moor of Venice’ was written around 1603, against the backdrop of the Ottoman-Venetian War. Othello was a Moor, the military commander of the Venetian army defending Cyprus against the Turks. He was a noble and valiant man, well loved by all. His inspiring stories were what attracted the beautiful Desdemona to fall in love with him. She would listen to him, enrapt as he waxed eloquent about his travels and adventures.

Othello knew he was much older than Desdemona. His hard life as a soldier and his race were also factors that fuelled his insecurity. He was deeply in love with his beautiful wife, and he could not believe that she had accepted him as her husband. Her father, Brabantio, had accused him of seducing his innocent daughter, but Desdemona had come forward and declared her love for him.

                                                          Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, there are other plots at work. Iago, Othello’s trusted ensign, is angry with Othello for having promoted a younger man named Cassio above him. He is aware that another wealthy, but fickle, gentleman called Roderigo was also in love with Desdemona. Othello’s insecurities make him a pawn in the devious Iago’s hands.

Iago convinces Othello that his wife is unfaithful and is having a dalliance with Cassio. He places a handkerchief of Desdemona’s in Cassio’s chambers. In little ways, he keeps poisoning Othello’s mind against the gentle Desdemona, till the Moor is incensed and vows to kill her.

The unfortunate story comes to an end as Othello smothers Desdemona with her pillow, only to hear immediately after from her maid, Emily, that she had been the one to give the handkerchief to her husband, Iago. The tale ends with Iago and Othello being apprehended for murder, but Othello finally takes his own life, broken-hearted and broken.

William Hazlitt once said, “The nature of the Moor is noble… but his blood is of the most inflammable kind.” Sad, but true!

The first theatrical performance of the play was way back in 1604 in Whitehall Place in London. Many other performances followed. 1943 saw the emergence of Paul Robeson as Othello, the only black man in an all-white cast. The show ran for 296 performances which was almost twice as long as any Shakespearean play on Broadway.

                                                     Paul Robeson as Othello

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In 1995, another production of Othello came out with a black actor, Laurence Fishburne playing the title role to Kenneth Branagh’s Iago. Laurence Olivier played Othello at the Royal National Theatre in 1964, and the story goes that he suffered a bad case of stage fright. However, the performance was so sought after that it was recorded on LP. The film version in 1965 garnered the greatest number of Oscars for Olivier for a Shakespearean film. All the four main actors received Oscar nominations. Olivier played Othello in blackface (using black make up), adopted a special accent in a deeper tone of voice as well as a special walk, apart from rolling his eyes, which was typical of the early depictions of blackfaces. Maggie Smith was Desdemona in this version.

                                                 Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith

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 A Hindi version of Othello was brought out by Vishal Bharadwaj in 2006 titled Omkara with a star cast that had Ajay Devgan playing the title role. The other roles were essayed by Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Naseeruddin Shah and Konkana Sen Sharma.

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I am participating in the #Blogchatter A to Z Challenge! Happy Reading and Writing! :)


 

Comments

  1. I studied Othello and in that they had described the play in one sentence: the power of the story. You have brought this out so well in the write up.

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  2. Suchita, Othello was always a conflicted hero, as were all the Bard's tragic heroes. maybe that made him more human, prone to insecurity. Thanks so much for your comment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah! You chose one of my favorite classics today. But my reason is different. You see I fell in love with this one after watching its adaptation, Omkara. I'm a huge fan of Vishal Bhardwaj and am in awe of how he adapted Shakespeare's works (Maqbool, Omkara and Haider)

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