Othello vs. O

Othello vs. O

Although we may not hear about every murder that happens in a day, hundreds of homicides take place in twenty four hours. In today's time, it is not uncommon to hear of some crazy guy who killed his girlfriend for whatever reason and then killed himself from the heartache. As people read things such as Shakespeare's Othello, they make comments about the tragic deaths that many of his characters experience. But in reality, our world in this time has things like that happen day in and day out, sometimes worse than the fates that Shakespeare comes up with for his characters. In a more recent version of the play, the movie O takes normal twentieth century high school students and uses jealousy to drive them into doing some very crazy things. In comparing these two versions of Othello, the main characters, Othello, Desdemona and Iago, play a monumental role in the reality of life and love, no matter what the time period may be.

From the Library of Congress: TITLE: Thos. W. Keen...

Othello and Desdemona in Venice, 1850, oil on wood...

"Desdemona in bed asleep", from Othello (Act V, sc...

By having names of similarity in the movie to Shakespeare's play, director Blake Nelson makes it much easier for the audience to follow the plot of the movie. Odin is the captain of the basketball team, and he obviously plays the part of Othello. Odin seems very close to the same character that Othello played because he demonstrates how love can make you blind to many things, including the personal destruction of his mind by someone who he thought was his friend. A major part of the movie that wasn't in the play was the use of drugs. Odin takes drugs in order to help his game and keep his mind off Desi. Instead, it makes him more upset and it leads him to violence and destruction, like at the dunking contest. According...