OTHELLO
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
"O beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."
MAIN CHARACTERS
Othello – General in the Venetian military, a noble Moor Desdemona – Othello's wife; daughter of Brabantio Iago – Othello's trusted, but jealous and traitorous ensign Cassio – Othello's loyal and most beloved lieutenant
Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's maidservant
other characters
Roderigo – dissolute Venetian, in love with Desdemona
Brabantio – Venetian senator and Desdemona's father (can also be called Brabanzio)
Gratiano- Brabantio's brother (Desdemona's uncle), who comes to Cyprus with Lodovico and inherits Othello's assets.
Among other characters we also found the duke of Venice and Bianca, cassio's lover.
INTRODUCTION
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1603 and first represented in 1604. It's said to be inspired by a novella of Giovan Battista Giraldi, who's usually known with the name of "Cinthio". The novella only mentioned Desdemona and referred to Othello as "The Moor", to Iago as "The Ensign" and to Emilia as "The Maidservant". All of this information has been written by Cinthio in his book named "The Hecatommithi".
PLOT
When the wealthy gentleman Roderigo, who had asked Brabantio the hand of his daughter, finds out she secretly married Othello, wants to get revenge on him. Othello's ensign, Iago, also wants to get revenge on him since Othello named Cassio as his lieutenant. Iago comes up with a filthy plan to destroy Othello's life by making him believe that Cassio's having and affair with Desdemona, through Desdemona's handkerchief in Cassio's belongings as evidence of the affair.
ACT V
The plan also consists in getting Cassio drunk to start a fight with Roderigo, so that Othello takes his title and names Iago as his new lieutenant. Afterwards, Roderigo will try to kill Cassio and fail doing so; Iago will kill Roderigo and reach to Othello. In the meantime, Othello kills Desdemona, driven by jealousy.
Here above, Othello and Desdemona, by Alexandre Marie Colin.
ENDING SCENE
When Emilia arrives at the scene with the former governor, Othello explains his actions mentioning the handkerchief. Emilia realizes what Iago has done and exposes him; Othello stabs Iago, but he survives and kills his wife for having exposed him, just after she called for help. When the governor apprehends Roderigo, Desdemona and Emilia's murders, Othello commits suicide while Iago remains silent and gets denounced for his actions, implying that he'll probably get executed or he'll be in prison.
Poster for a 1884 American Production starring Thomas Keene
VERDI'S OTHELLO
Between 1884 and 1886, Giuseppe Verdi wrote an opera based on Shakespeare's Othello. But there are some crucial differences between the two scripts, and how the characters are written. SCRIPT:-Shakespeare's tragedy starts in Venice this gives the opportunity to set a background situation. -Verdi's opera starts in Cyprus with the well-known storm scene it focuses more on the impact that the scene has on the audience.
CHARACTERIZATION - OTHELLO
Shakespeare's Othello is rhetorical, written in quite a complex way;his strenght majorly comes from his choice of words so his abilities in verbal mastery. Verdi's Othello is depicted as heroic, and very emotional, passionate; he therefore acts quite impulsively.
His downfall is caused, ironically, by Iago's verbal manipulation!
-IAGO
Shakespeare's Iago is extremely ambiguous, as it's hard to comprehends why he acts in such ways;he's mostly jealous, driven by malice, shows no compassion. Verdi depicts Iago as philosophically evil, especially through the "Credo" aria, where Iago proclaims nihilistic views, which aren't shown in the tragedy.
DESDEMONA
Shakespeare's Desdemona actively participates in dialogues and is fundamental to the plot. Verdi's Desdemona is also crucial for the storyline, but she's only shown as the embodiment of spiritual purity. Her figure becomes symbolic, shifting from a dramatic participant to a "lyrical martyr", as experts say.
WOMEN'S CONDITION IN BOTH SHAKESPEARE AND VERDI'S WORKS
Desdemona, in the tragedy, as it's already been said, actively partecipates in the dialogues. For example, she defends her marriage before the Venetian Senate and defies her father by marrying Othello. Even if society didn't let women have a say in many situations, she always stood out and expressed her concerns.
Since Verdi writes Desdemona as a saint-like figure, whos purpose is pretty much symbolic, her character isn't socially and politically active as Shakespeare's.
EMILIA
Emilia, Iago's wife, is depicted by Shakespeare as the feminist voice of the tragedy. She deeply criticizes all the male-centered aspects of society, especially marriage; she discusses about sexual inequalities and preaches women to defend their rights. As Verdi reduced Desdemona's role, he also reduced Emilia's. She's still the one who exposes Iago, but her feminist speeches are removed...
Her presence is therefore only needed to be a supporting character, useful for the plot.
LOGBOOK!!
The images used in this presentation are all copyright-free as it's been checked before if they were free to use or not.
OTHELLO
LIVIA CARATTINI
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Transcript
OTHELLO
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
"O beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."
MAIN CHARACTERS
Othello – General in the Venetian military, a noble Moor Desdemona – Othello's wife; daughter of Brabantio Iago – Othello's trusted, but jealous and traitorous ensign Cassio – Othello's loyal and most beloved lieutenant
Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's maidservant
other characters
Roderigo – dissolute Venetian, in love with Desdemona
Brabantio – Venetian senator and Desdemona's father (can also be called Brabanzio)
Gratiano- Brabantio's brother (Desdemona's uncle), who comes to Cyprus with Lodovico and inherits Othello's assets.
Among other characters we also found the duke of Venice and Bianca, cassio's lover.
INTRODUCTION
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1603 and first represented in 1604. It's said to be inspired by a novella of Giovan Battista Giraldi, who's usually known with the name of "Cinthio". The novella only mentioned Desdemona and referred to Othello as "The Moor", to Iago as "The Ensign" and to Emilia as "The Maidservant". All of this information has been written by Cinthio in his book named "The Hecatommithi".
PLOT
When the wealthy gentleman Roderigo, who had asked Brabantio the hand of his daughter, finds out she secretly married Othello, wants to get revenge on him. Othello's ensign, Iago, also wants to get revenge on him since Othello named Cassio as his lieutenant. Iago comes up with a filthy plan to destroy Othello's life by making him believe that Cassio's having and affair with Desdemona, through Desdemona's handkerchief in Cassio's belongings as evidence of the affair.
ACT V
The plan also consists in getting Cassio drunk to start a fight with Roderigo, so that Othello takes his title and names Iago as his new lieutenant. Afterwards, Roderigo will try to kill Cassio and fail doing so; Iago will kill Roderigo and reach to Othello. In the meantime, Othello kills Desdemona, driven by jealousy.
Here above, Othello and Desdemona, by Alexandre Marie Colin.
ENDING SCENE
When Emilia arrives at the scene with the former governor, Othello explains his actions mentioning the handkerchief. Emilia realizes what Iago has done and exposes him; Othello stabs Iago, but he survives and kills his wife for having exposed him, just after she called for help. When the governor apprehends Roderigo, Desdemona and Emilia's murders, Othello commits suicide while Iago remains silent and gets denounced for his actions, implying that he'll probably get executed or he'll be in prison.
Poster for a 1884 American Production starring Thomas Keene
VERDI'S OTHELLO
Between 1884 and 1886, Giuseppe Verdi wrote an opera based on Shakespeare's Othello. But there are some crucial differences between the two scripts, and how the characters are written. SCRIPT:-Shakespeare's tragedy starts in Venice this gives the opportunity to set a background situation. -Verdi's opera starts in Cyprus with the well-known storm scene it focuses more on the impact that the scene has on the audience.
CHARACTERIZATION - OTHELLO
Shakespeare's Othello is rhetorical, written in quite a complex way;his strenght majorly comes from his choice of words so his abilities in verbal mastery. Verdi's Othello is depicted as heroic, and very emotional, passionate; he therefore acts quite impulsively.
His downfall is caused, ironically, by Iago's verbal manipulation!
-IAGO
Shakespeare's Iago is extremely ambiguous, as it's hard to comprehends why he acts in such ways;he's mostly jealous, driven by malice, shows no compassion. Verdi depicts Iago as philosophically evil, especially through the "Credo" aria, where Iago proclaims nihilistic views, which aren't shown in the tragedy.
DESDEMONA
Shakespeare's Desdemona actively participates in dialogues and is fundamental to the plot. Verdi's Desdemona is also crucial for the storyline, but she's only shown as the embodiment of spiritual purity. Her figure becomes symbolic, shifting from a dramatic participant to a "lyrical martyr", as experts say.
WOMEN'S CONDITION IN BOTH SHAKESPEARE AND VERDI'S WORKS
Desdemona, in the tragedy, as it's already been said, actively partecipates in the dialogues. For example, she defends her marriage before the Venetian Senate and defies her father by marrying Othello. Even if society didn't let women have a say in many situations, she always stood out and expressed her concerns.
Since Verdi writes Desdemona as a saint-like figure, whos purpose is pretty much symbolic, her character isn't socially and politically active as Shakespeare's.
EMILIA
Emilia, Iago's wife, is depicted by Shakespeare as the feminist voice of the tragedy. She deeply criticizes all the male-centered aspects of society, especially marriage; she discusses about sexual inequalities and preaches women to defend their rights. As Verdi reduced Desdemona's role, he also reduced Emilia's. She's still the one who exposes Iago, but her feminist speeches are removed...
Her presence is therefore only needed to be a supporting character, useful for the plot.
LOGBOOK!!
The images used in this presentation are all copyright-free as it's been checked before if they were free to use or not.