Comparison of Othello and ‘O’ Movies

Othello and “O” The movie “O” by Tim Blake Nelson is based on Shakespeare’s play “Othello. They both have many differences as well as similarities. The same trap is laid for the main character in both versions and the same amount of casualties happens in both final scenes. Nelson sets his story in modern time prep school, and his characters are not the adults of Shakespeare's play. Shakespeare Othello is set in the 16th century while Nelsons “O” is set I the 20th century.

In Othello, the setting is in 16th century Cyprus during a war with the Turkish Empire. The language used in respectful and nice compared to “O”. Brabantio calls Othello to the summit and questions him what sorcery he has used to take his daughter Desdemona away from him. Desdemona denies the fact that Othello used any sorcery and says that there love is true and that she left her father for her husband and he left his family for her mother. In this play Desdemona is married to Othello.

Iago’s reasons of jealousy are that Othello promoted Cassio to Lieutenant instead of him and that there’s a well-known rumor that Othello has slept with his where the truth hasn’t been brought to light. Nobody is aware of neither Iago’s nor Rodrigo’s intentions. Othello has epilepsy and Iago doesn’t help until Cassio walks in. Desdemona is slapped by Othello and no one can believe that the well-known respected general would do such a thing. Othello makes Iago his blood brother and Iago tells him to kill Desdemona and he will kill Cassio for him.

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But Iago Sends Rodrigo instead of doing it himself to kill Cassio but fails wring and Rodrigo gets injured and runs away than Iago comes and stabs Cassio in the leg then goes and kills Rodrigo. When Othello kills Desdemona, Emilia comes in and see’s that Desdemona is dead and Othello confessed to his crime so Emilia cries out murder where everyone came in including Iago where he starts to argue with Emilia and tells her to be quite but she doesn’t listen and then he tells her to go home but she doesn’t go therefore disrupting him and then she tells the truth about the handkerchief so stabs and kills her and then runs away.

When Othello realizes what he has done he stabs himself and lays on her and kisses her in the lips as he dies. In “O”, the setting is in the modern-era prep school where instead of a war being fought it’s a series of basketball games. In this movie foul disrespectful language is used compared to Othello. Iago feels that his father Duke loves Oden more than he loves him so he tries so hard to win his father’s love from Oden.

When Brandy calls Oden to the main office he accuses Oden of forcing Desy and then accuses him of using drugs again because of his skin color. Then Duke calls for Desy and she tells her father that they been together a few months before he even found out and that it’s none of his business. Oden gets injured during a game while in Othello he doesn’t. Desy is more aware of Iago and Oden beats up Rodger because he is aware of Rodger. Oden is so jealous and angry that he attacks Hugo and then storms out the court.

Instead of Oden having epilepsy he takes cocaine instead. The scene on Othello where Othello slaps Desdemona is different in the fact that instead Oden after he takes cocaine and is hyped up he enters the court for the slam-dunk contest and breaks the backboard which everyone one loves at first until he breaks the backboard completely and takes off the rim slams it and disrespects a kid and pushes him off to the side where the whole audience, crowd was shocked because they couldn’t believe what they seen.

Instead of using a knife, Rodger shoots Hugo in the leg and then Hugo gets frustrated and kills Rodger and tries to make it look like and accident then Brandy came and Hugo asked for her help to call the cops but she got scared and ran away. Hugo instead of stabbing Emily he shoots her and runs away. When oden realizes what he has done and knows everything he shoots himself in the deck of the house and lay’s on the couch away from Desy. In both the play and the movies Iago and Hugo are fueled by jealousy.

The same trap is set in place for the characters and the same amount of deaths happen in the end of the movie/play. In both Emalia/Emily steal the scarf for Iago/Hugo which leads them to having sexual intercourse. Both Desdemona/Desy believe they have misplaced the scarf given to them by Othello/Oden. In both the play and the movie Iago/Hugo is very envious of Othello/Hugo because everyone respects and admires him. Othello is the only black person in the play and so is Oden in the movie.

Othello/Oden promotes/chooses Cassio/Mike instead of Iago/Hugo. In both plays Iago/Hugo build hatred/jealousy against Iago/Hugo which starts the whole plot of both the movie and play. Iago/Hugo betrays Othello/oden and does not care who gets hurt in the process of destroying Othello/Hugo. Iago/Hugo does not do everything alone he is helped out by Rodrigo/Rodger which in both the play and the movie is secretly in love with Desdemona/Desy. Iago/Hugo and Rodrigo/Rodger make Othello/Oden believe Desdemona/Desy has been cheating on im with Cassio/Mike. When Iago/Hugo kills Emilia/Emily he runs away but is later caught by other men and when Othello/Oden asks Iago/Hugo why has he done all of this to him and Iago/Oden replies that he doesn’t need to know and from now on he will not say another word. After Othello/Oden realize t=what they have done he kills himself. Both the play Othello by Shakespeare and “O” by Blake nelson are wonderful and have a great story line that catches the viewers’ attention.

They both have a tragic story and a very sad ending with high body counts. Both the play and movie have everyday problem and issues that still happen even today that proves Shakespeare is a very intelligent man. It’s a sad thing that these problems were around for many centuries and still exist today. Since the movie was based on the play they are very similar except that the movie is set in a modern time period. They both are very great and I recommend them both.

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