Othello_and_O

Othello, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the 16th Century which portrays a “black” soldier as the hero of Venice who is highly regarded by others before jealousy and deception take place and gradually tear down his high rank status. Its transformation O, on the other hand, is the 21st century film version directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Again, the film shows a basketball player as the most important role in a typical American Basketball team and an equivalent wind-up of jealousy and deception before the fatal death of this heroic player. Clearly, Othello and O demonstrate the idea that despite differences in the context of time, such that these two texts are made 400 years apart, both Shakespeare and Tim Blake Nelson are able to utilise similar universal themes Although, there may be contextual differences in settings and techniques, the themes such as deception and tragedy are all evenly explored in both texts. The role of deception involves lying to others and causing them to believe what is false. It is the driving force throughout both Othello and O to bring many characters undone, leading them all to a tragically, violent fate. In Othello, deception is especially employed by Iago to achieve his revenge. Immediately in the opening play, Iago deceives through his dialogue with Roderigo. Iago may seem to love and obey the Moor, when indeed he is only serving Othello to get what he wants. In Act 1 scene 1, he states: “In following him I follow but myself…” The first impression of Iago has alluded to webs of lies and deception. Then his speech concludes with “I am not what I am” to further emphasize Iago’s duplicity. In addition, deception is fully revealed in Act I, Scene 3, where Iago confesses the truth about his thoughts in his soliloquy. There is an obvious contrast between Iago’s nasty reality (when confiding his bitterness to the audience) and his show of false affection (when speaking to other characters). After Iago pretends friendship with Roderigo, who hurries off to put money in his purse. Iago turns to us, ready to offer cynical pronouncements, only to be interrupted as Roderigo unexpectedly returns. Once more, he slips back into his public persona as he turns to Roderigo and feigns affection. Thus, his dramatic contrast is a typical example of his deceptive quality that reinforces the audiences’ belief in which Iago is not to be trusted. Similarly, Nelson’s O uses many of the ideas from the original play but he transforms them in a more modern way as to appeal to a younger generation. Instead of using soliloquies for conveying deception, the film begins with Hugo’s voice over which is drawn closely from Shakespeare’s wicked Iago to share his plans with us. In the voice over, Hugo ironically, presents himself as the white dove that usually symbolizes innocence and Ordin as the black hawk. Hugo will use deception as a tool to seek revenge and manifest his jealousy by always trying to cleanse himself of the sins from his “white feathers” and pretends to be pure. “One of these days, everyone's gonna pay attention to me. Because I'm gonna fly too” said Hugo in the beginning, who is ultimately the real hawk disguised as a dove, at least until he is ready to strike! Thus, Hugo and Iago are equally effective in deceiving others difference use of techniques. Furthermore, tragedy is another dominant theme presented in both texts to demonstrate transformation. The context of “Othello” was set in Venice in the 1600’s when soldiers and battlefields were vastly common. Hence, Shakespeare made Othello to be a military leader who is a person of high rank, but has a fatal flaw and so falls to ruin after Iago inflames him with jealousy. Othello is regarded as the great general as his high status is indicated in the rush to find him where in Act 1 scene 2, “the senate has sent about three several quest to search him out”. It is evident that Montano, himself also respects Othello as he praises Othello to be of “most allowed sufficiency “(Act 1 scene 3) and “the man commands like a full soldier”. However, through Iago’s manipulation Othello gradually behaves more aggressively and eventually turns into the “green-eyed monster” that feeds on its jealousy. By adopting a systematic change of his behaviours towards Desdemona from calling her the “excellent wretch” to the “perjured woman”, it highlights Othello’s fatal flaw that causes a downfall in his position of importance as well as loss of respects of others. In the end, tragedy is reinforced with the death of Othello and a great person is brought down. Similarly, “O” follows the same pattern of Shakespearean tragedies, but only set in the modern American university in 21st century. It has transformed a soldier on the battlefield to an important basketball player on the basketball court. Just like Othello saves Venice, Ordin also saves the basketball team when he wins the game in the very beginning. Ordin is presented with the trophy in a close-up shot to further highlight his pride which is a build up of rising high to a modern fear of a tragic end. Ordin has a fatal flaw of love and is likewise trapped in Hugo’s deception that later crashes him down. In the scene where Ordin smashes the hoop board and pushes a little child in the basketball court, it suggests Odin’s behavioural change to violence and an indication of his gradual downfall in his position. However, compare to Othello who uses knife to kill himself, Ordin uses a gun to shoot himself. Ordin’s death is yet a tragedy that occurs through his fatal flaw and the fall in his rank. To sum up, the composition of O is structured differently, but the idea of deception and tragedy are strongly communicated through its medium as it stays in touch with the many messages embodied in Shakespeare's Othello.