Othello,The Moor of Venice 1995 Motion Picture

Response to Othello, The Moor of Venice
The 1995 movie Othello is a motion picture of Shakespeare’s famous play Othello, The Moor of Venice. Prior to watching the film, we had read the original Shakespearean play. There were several components I found interesting in the play. For instance, I realized that the written play and the film did not differ greatly. Also, I had discovered some peculiar features about some of the characters, especially Iago and Othello.
The written play, Othello, was definitely well put together and overall amazing. As was the movie. What amazed me the most, however, was the fact that the play and the movie were consistent. I am very accustomed to plays and written works of art being altered when transformed into a film production. This play and movie had remained surprisingly similar. For example, when the play begins, Rodrigo and Iago are discussing matters about Desdemona and her new husband. This is the exact way that the movie had begun as well. Although I know a few actions were altered, such as the scene when Desdemona drops her handkerchief, the changed scenes are not at all significant changes, instead they were very subtle. This took me by surprise. Many books I have read as a child were altered so much when its corresponding movie came out. The possible reason why the movie and play remained consistent must be, in my opinion, that the Shakespeare’s plays were already amazing works of art that any alterations can really change the affect the play has on people.
As I had mentioned, Shakespeare had a wonderful talent of creating such artistic literary works of art. One of the strongest elements, in my opinion, of Othello was the way that Shakespeare had created his characters, particularly Iago and Othello. Iago is very mysterious villan. He plots against Desdemona and her husband Othello throughout the entire movie. For instance, he begins convincing Othello that his wife, Desdemona, has been cheating on him with Cassio, all supposedly for Rodrigo. In the end, after all of the drama and plotting people against others, all of these characters as well as Iago’s wife end up dead. This was all Iago’s fault. It is not very clear why he had these intentions. The only explanation is that he is a psychopath. From what I had observed, Iago has no motives to create all of this destruction. It seems as if he just wanted to play. Also, he did not feel any bit guilty or remorseful of his actions. This took me by surprise because Iago really turned out to be such a cold hearted character. I understand that Iago is a terrible manipulative and cold hearted person, however for some reason, I was still shocked at the end of movie when Iago killed his own wife, Emilia. I thought that although he has close to no feelings, he would atleast be a little bit charismatic towards his own wife. It really was emotional to watch. I also wanted to comment on Othello’s character. Othello is a strong and older black male that has had such high rankings and was able to wed the woman of his dreams, the fair Desdemona. The most interesting thing to me was that this man was actually really insecure. He should not be so insecure and unsure about himself if he remembers who is. I understand why he may be a bit insecure about his wife supposedly cheating, however he let this lie consume him. Iago told Othello that his wife had been seeing Cassio. Instead of discussing this matter with his wife and Cassio, he instead believed Iago and ordered that Cassio be killed and then proceeded to kill his wife as well for cheating on him. I just think that if he had been less insecure about the situation and tried to find out the truth, he would have realized that the only person whom had betrayed him was the one and only Iago. These two characters are a work of art. The reason why I say this is because if Shakespeare hadn’t created such dramatic characters that possess these personalities, this amazing plot would not exist.