O versus Othello

Othello vs. O Othello O Connection/Disconnection Othello Odin Black protagonist Desdemona Desi Love interests Iago Hugo Villain Cassio Michael Scape goat Cheating portrayal Cheating portrayal Othello and Odin are convinced their woman is cheating Sex scene Sex scene Othello’s is romantic, Odin’s turns into a rape Othello death Odin death Othello stabs himself, Odin shoots himself Brabantino Coach Duke Father figures to Othello/Odin Roderigo Roger Wants the girl Handkerchief Scarf Gifts to the love interests Emilia Emily Wife/Girlfriend to villain Throughout the semester, I have found that “Othello” and “O” are the most similar adaptations we have watched, and they are also my favorites. They follow each other very closely, with a few exceptions. With my chart, I hope to layout the connections and disconnections and then go further into detail. For starters, we have our black protagonists in both movies: Othello and Odin. Accompanying them are their love interests, Desdemona and Desi. Othello is married to Desdemona and Odin is dating Desi. To make their lives more complicated than they already are, we have Iago/Hugo trying to convince Othello/Odin that Desdemona/Desi are cheating with Cassio/Michael. Cassio and Michael are the scape goats because they are the core reason that Othello/Desdemona and Odin/Desi have problems with their relationships even though there is no cheating taking place. With every love story, there has to be a sex scene. The scene that we see in “Othello” is very romantic. It is Othello and Desdemona’s wedding night and we see the passion the two have for each other. This happens fairly early in the movie, before Iago starts corrupting Othello and making him think that Desdemona is sleeping with Iago. The sex scene in “O” is very different. Instead of it being close to the beginning, it’s more towards the middle. This happens after Hugo has already started convincing Odin that Desi is sleeping with Michael. Also, Odin is starting the believe it. At first, this scene starts out pretty passionate. The problem occurs when Odin starts thinking about Desi and Michael and pictures Michael having sex with his girl. Desi starts to enjoy the sex and Odin instantly thinks that she was not a virgin and is liking it because she has experienced it before i.e. with Michael. Odin gets so angry that he hurts Desi and she keeps yelling for him to stop and he won’t. He ends up raping her. Even though the handkerchief/scarf is at the bottom of my chart, I want to talk about it next. Othello gives Desdemona a handkerchief that was from his family. She, of course, keeps it close. The problem occurs when her caretaker, Emilia, takes it and gives it to her husband, Iago. Iago then gives it to Cassio so that he can give it to the girl he has been sleeping with. Once Cassio has it, Iago tells Othello that he has seen Cassio with the handkerchief that Othello gave Desdemona. This sends Othello into an epileptic fit. Othello asks Desdemona to show him the handkerchief. When she can’t, he gets extremely upset. She insists that it is lost and she will find it. Odin gives Desi a scarf that was passed down through his family. Desi puts it in a drawer in her dresser. Her best friend, Emily, takes it and gives it to her boyfriend, Hugo. Hugo then gives it to Michael for him to give it to the girl he is interested in. Hugo then tells Odin that he has seen Michael with the scarf he gave Desi. Odin demands that Desi shows him the scarf. When she can’t find it, she says she will find it later. This upsets Odin, but they continue on with their weekend plans. Brabantino, Desdemona’s father, was a big father figure to Othello. Brabantino is actually the way that Othello and Desdemona met. Othello would visit and he would tell Desdemona his life stories. When Brabantino finds out that Desdemona and Othello have gotten married, he says, “She has deceived her father. What makes you think she won’t deceive you too?” Brabantino may not have intended to, but he put that into Othello’s mind, justifying the cheating, and it stayed there until he died. It is a little different in “O.” Instead of Desi’s father, we have Hugo’s father, Coach Duke. From what we see in the movie, Coach Duke brought Odin in off of the streets, got him off of drugs, and gave him a life he could actually do something with. I find it interesting that we have the villain’s father taking the protagonist under his wing. I think that this justifies why Hugo dislikes Odin so much and makes him do what he does. Even though Coach Duke does not say it, Desi’s father still says, “She deceived me. She will do it to you.” Once again, this is put back into Odin’s mind and makes the cheating seemed justified. Then, we have Roderigo and Roger. Roderigo is a low life who is in love with Desdemona. Iago tells him that Othello and Desdemona are breaking up, and Roderigo does not believe him. I think this is one of the jump starts to Iago corrupting Othello. Iago is trying to get Othello to get rid of Desi, but is it really so that Roderigo can have her? Not likely, but that is the excuse he has. Roderigo attempts to kill Cassio for reasons that is unclear to me, but is unsuccessful. Like in “Othello,” Roger is in love with Desi. Hugo tries to convince Roger that Desi and Odin are breaking up. When Roger realizes that they aren’t, that is when the plan is put into affect. Hugo isn’t trying to get Odin to kick Desi to the curb because of Roger, he is doing it because he wants to see Odin miserable. Roger attempts to kill Michael, but does not succeed. Hugo finishes Michael off. Roger attempts to kill Michael because Roger wants to get rid of any type of love interest that may keep him from having Desi. Lastly, we have the death of Othello and the death of Odin. Othello stabs himself and allows for him to fall next to Desdemona’s dead body to die. Odin, on the other hand, shoots himself and is not even anywhere near Desi when he dies. He had already killed her and made his way out of the building onto the patio. As you can see, these movies follow each other really well, with the exception of a few disconnections. I think they were great adaptations of the play, even if they were set in two different time periods. Hopefully, my chart and my explanation of the chart has allowed for you to better understand the connections and disconnections between “Othello” and “O.”