R How have dramatic and film techniques been used to reveal the struggle of humanity in Shakespeares Othello?

This world that we live in belongs to all of us and we belong to it. Everyone being men, women and children go through tragedies that make life a struggle. Shakespeares plays included tragedies that immensely depict men and women struggling with life and in these plays these men and women who went through struggles, were brought to the end of it by death. In Othello Shakespeare presents a wide range of themes and through these themes the audience take a journey with the characters and in the process get to know the characters and the struggles they are going through. The main themes brought forth in the play are honesty, deceit and jealousy. Many dramatic and film techniques have been used to interpret these themes and reveal the struggle of humanity in Shakespeares play of Othello. Honesty is a major theme that really binds and shortly after breaks the relationship of the characters, causing struggles between them. Shakespeare uses techniques such as irony, dramatic irony, and repetition to convey honesty or deceit to the audience. Iago one of the main characters in the play makes a speech early in the play to let the audience know of where he stands and what he believes in. Therefore early in the play we come to know that Iago finds that people who are what they seem are foolish. This demonstrates that Iago is not an honest up front man but someone who has 2 faces. Iago uses phrases such as, I am not what I am and Where I the Moor I would not be Iago, to back up what he believes in, which contradicts Othellos opinion of Iago. Shakespeare then uses irony to show Othellos opinion of Iago and contrasts that with what Iago really is. In the play, Othello is directed by the Duke to go to Cyprus immediately and Othello is asked by the Senate to appoint an officer whom he can trust to deliver documents. Othello assigns Iago to be that man because he states Iago to be, A man of honesty and trust. Shakespeare again uses irony in the play to convey the 2 faced character of Iago. A while after Othello asks Iago to escort Desdemona to Cyprus and to have Emilia go as a cohort with her. Othello says to Iago, Honest Iago/ My Desdemona must I leave to thee.... Iago is the central character in the play who really in the end causes the tragedy to occur. Yet at the beginning of the play Iago states the reason for doing what he is doing is because he [Othello] ha[d] done [Iagos] office which means that Othello had an affair with Iagos wife. Iago states this, despite the fact [he] know not ift be true. Repetition is another technique used to show how deceitful Iago is and how Iago manipulates people into believing him. During the play Iago is friends with Rodergigo , who is distraught about the fact that Desdemona would fall for someone like Othello. Iago then tells Roderigo to put money in thy purse which is repeated several times. Here iago is asking money from Roderigo so that he can help him get Desdemona, but the audience know that Iago is only out for himself and this is all a lie. Lastly, to show deceit Shakespeare uses the technique of Dramatic Irony. During one of Iagos soliloquies, he speaks of how I make my fool my purse. In this sentence Iago is referring to Roderigo and how he makes money by fooling him. This is ironic because we

know Iagoss true feelings towards Rodrigo, and this is that he doesnt care about him and is only using him to make money and accomplish bringing down Othello. Iago is someone only out for his achievements and uses people to do so. Roderigo, unfortunately, is the one he uses and in the end Rodrigo struggles for his life as he fights but doesnt end up knowing it was Iago who stabbed him. Through the techniques of irony, dramatic irony and repetition Shakespeare conveys to the present and future audience that life bring alot of struggles especially concerning who you can trust and who really is a true friend that is not only out for themselves. If the ultimate goal of everyone in the human race is love then one can argue that the ultimate human obstacle is jelousy. Whether it is because of hatred, racism or fear of unfaithfulness, jelousy is someone encounters on a frequent basis. In Othello jelousy is a destructive force that in the end destorys the characters lives. Jealousy, in Othello, is fuelled by very simple incidental evidence that leads to the characters facing struggles and in the end destroying lives. Othello is easily surrendered to jealousy when Iago the man he trusts convinces him that Desdemona is cheating on him. Because of this conspiracy, Othello is driven to murder Desdemona. In the Oliver Parker film Othello which is based on Shakespeares Othello play, Parker uses many useful film techniques to make understanding jealousy in the play and how that causes the characters to experience many struggles easier. Imagery and symbolism is firstly used to convey the jealousy Othello is experiencing and that Iago notices it too especially when he says to Othello, O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock. This is used both in the play and film to show the importance of jealousy in the play and the struggles Othello is going through because he doesnt know who to believe and the feeling of his wife being unfaithful to him. Because of the jealousy Iago is feeling, due to the fact Othello didnt appoint him as his right hand man he is determined to gain control over Othello and the characters in the play. Parker expresses this when Iago bends down with his eyes eye level with the chess board and him having control over the chess pieces. Then there is lightning and thunder in the background as he snatches them off the chess board. Jealousy is also represented in the modernised Othello film by Andrew Davies. In this version Davies modernises the original Othello so that it may relate more to present audiences. Ways he does that is by firstly using modern language instead of Elizabethan and there is a radically different conclusion where justice does not prevail and where there is no proper resolution. But the main thing is that Jago who is based on the character of Iago is more ambiguous; and is driven by jealousy instead of motiveless malice and because of this at the end the audience isnt sure of how evil he really is. In this version Jago is out to bring down Othello because he didnt get the job that he wanted. This shows that Shakespeares play including Othello remain useful for modern day audiences. In this version Davies makes sure to retain the theme of jealousy but also retain racial politics.

Davies also uses film techniques to show jealousy and the affect it has on a person. Davies does this by using sharp camera angles and close ups. This occurs when Jago is walking quickly through the corridor at his work and then outside. In this scene he is talking to the camera about how he is jealous because Othello got a higher ranking than Jago. People everywhere from all kinds of races and age can relate to Shakespeares plays because of the experiences the characters go through are very similar to those that people have experienced, do experience and will experience. as we have seen through this essay is that this is immensely shown in Shakespeares play of Othello, and to help the modern audiences understand the play better, directors have reproduced the film into more modern versions. Film and dramatic techniques have been used to bring forth the play to the audience and through these effective film and dramatic techniques, jealousy, deceit and honesty are able to be communicated to the audience so that their effect on the characters and in the play is understood better.