Othello by African-American Shakespeare Company
Othello by the African-American Shakespeare Company
Othello is a movie
performance by Shakespeare Arts Company, directed by Carl Jordan in Washington
DC AND Syria. The movie revolves around racism, exploitation, social classes
and injustice. Othello is the main character in the movie, an African military
man born and raised in a strong Muslim background. However, he proceeds to
marry a white Christian girl leading to conflicting roles and beliefs regarding
culture, tradition, and the formation of a sustainable family set-up. The play
is about Othello, a strong, elegant Venice military man married to Desdemona, a
Venetian woman from a noble family. However, Othello has an African friend, Lago,
from the same army where he is the general, while his friend is only a junior
servant (Sawyer, 134). Lago suddenly becomes Jealous of Othello when he
appoints Casio for the position of chief lieutenant instead of him. As a
result, Lago starts plotting evil ways to bring down Othello. He does this by
urging Rodrigo, a wealthy man from Venice, to continue perusing Desdemona,
regardless of his awareness that she is married to Othello. Lagos does this
because he is sure Desdemona’s parents would prefer Rodrigo over Othello, a
black man. In act three, 'Be aware of Jealousy; it is the green-eyed Monster’,
Lagos represents a standard norm in the society when he goes against all odds
to ensure Othello is hurt because he feels jealous of his success(Sawyer, 138).
The play demonstrates the cultural differences across races and different
thematic concerns that society portrays today. In the end, Lagos, in an attempt
to protect the truths from being revealed, kills Emilia. He is then proven
guilty of the murder of Emilia and jailed, while Othello kills himself beside
his wife Desdemona in guilt. Although Lago is alive at the end of the play, he
is left wounded and miserable. The play portrays critical themes in African
American societies or territories today.
The most incredible
moment during the play was when Lagos asked Cassio to ask out Desdemona TO help
her regain his lost seat. This happens after he has convinced Othello that
Desdemona was so fond of Cassio that they are probably having an affair. When
Desdemona accepts to help Cassio innocently, Othello fumes with rage from jealousy.
As a result, he asks his wife to get him the first gift, 'an embroidered
handkerchief' he had given her ( Carl,34:56). Desdemona cannot trace it because
Lagos had instructed Emilia to take it and has hidden it somewhere he cannot
find it. It’s alarming how people in society today are willing to go to the
extreme to plot a downfall against an innocent individual. The selfish endeavours
of Lago cause constant conflicts between Othello and her innocent wife. The
selfish desires cause much harm that gains even to Lago himself. In the second
scene, when Desdemona asks Othello to reconsider the demotion of Cassio and
give him a second chance, the husband quickly suspects her of infidelity (
Carl,40:56). This scenario portrays the common belief in society that there can
never be a normal pure friendship between a man and woman without sexual attachments.
Most women are prejudged for sleeping with men they might be innocently
fighting for or supporting innocently from natural womanly instincts of
nurture.
Shakespeare’s
Othello has widely employed imagery by applying different colours and
contrasts. The most dominant colors are white, red, and black, demonstrating the most dominant themes in the play; racial injustice, prejudice, sexuality, betrayal, and murder. The colours that constantly appear in darkness are orange, green
and red, contrasting evil versus good. The orange color, for example, represents Lago's deceit and betrayal behaviors. The red represents
murder and killings, Othello's suppressed anger and rage. Black and white
simultaneously represent racial prejudice between the colour of Othello and
aspects associated with black people, such as poverty and primitivism. However,
Desdemona is perceived as more elite and deserves better in life because she is
white; the parents, therefore, prefer her to marry Rodrigues, a fellow rich
white man who is perceived as better than Othello because of his white colour
(Grady, 590). The Black and white also represent the contrasting themes of evil
versus good. Lagos displays an evil character; he is full of envy, anger, and
resentment and plots evil plots against his friend Othello. Besides, he uses
his traps and manipulative tricks on the innocent like Desdemona (Grady, 590).
Desdemona represents the good, and she innocently agrees to help Cassio, not
knowing it is a trap. She represents the innocent group in society who die for
being good.
The acting and
design elements represented the societal challenges and dominant themes in everyday
life. The actors represented the racial injustice of ordinary African Americans
set ups during the 19th century and even today. Othello represents the black Africans treated unequally by society and power because of their color. Lago represented common deceit and evil practices in society today from
close families and friends. Desdemona represents the theme of change that the
African American society needs. Cross-cultural relationships should be
encouraged in society today to eliminate racial prejudice.
Work
Cited
Carl Jordan. Othello.African-American
Shakespeare company. Washington DC, USA.1999. Othello
by African-American Shakespeare Co
Grady, Kyle. "Emphasis and Elision: Early Modern
English Approaches to Racial Mixing and their Afterlives." New Literary
History 52.3 (2021): 585-604.
Sawyer, Robert. "Shakespeare Productions in the
USA: The Voices and Sounds of America’s Shakespeare." Shakespeare Between
the World Wars. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2019. 133-193.
Contact:
Email address: researchwriters087@gmail.com
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