One of the main concerns with plays is figuring out who a character truly is. While it can be clear of their names, looks, and even actions, knowing what drives this character to be who they are is an more in depth look. Some characters are more easy to analyze, but there are those that are complex at first glance but once one realizes the key powers that drive that character, one can understand the play even more. Such a character is Othello from Shakespeares Othello, a play about a man in conflict with his self identity and social interpretation of who he is. This essay will look further into the character of Othello and bring out the crucial obstacles and objectives that form him into the man that he is.
The first step in analyzing the character of Othello is to look at his relationship and interaction with the other characters and their reaction in return. From the very beginning there is a strong sense of distance and ostracism. Othellos Moorish descent leaves him in an odd situation with the other characters. He is almost a distant, figurative character at first, a kind of shadow in the play. There are hints at his presence and importance, but its hidden well. The actor must note this and give their own interpretation of the character with mystery and withdrawal from the busyness and interaction of earlier parts of the play. The character must be withdrawn from the rest but in a subtle way that the audience does not dwell on it too much.
It is also important for the actor to understand the perception that much of the cast has of Othello. There is a lot of name calling and prejudice attitudes thrown towards him. The character, though obviously not always present to hear such statements, has a kind of fire inside that is built from these opposing views to his heritage. But there is no overwhelming defiance or exhibit of his pain. There is a calm fury and restraint that Othello must possess. The actor must get a sense of feeling different and being viewed with numerous eyes but mixing this feeling with the mystery and creating a more relaxed and contemplating figure.
While Othello is looked over by his peers, it is also key to note that some of the ostracism is self-given. Whether it be because he feels too different or understands the views of others, Othello withdraws himself at times. The actor must get a sense of this internal str uggle, that this man is not welcomed and feels the urge to accept this. This combination of lacking acceptance and subduing to the treatment he endures is what makes Othello such a powerful and tragic character.
Despite the distance that is presented between Othello and most of the cast, it is clear that he is valued as a soldier and leader more than man in the play. This is important for the actor to understand as it puts emphasis on Othellos duties and requi rements while giving him a great sense of worth and responsibility. It can be looked as a man being broken into two pieces. First there is the social aspect where the man is welcomed by his peers and creates friendly bonds. Then there is the government aspect where the man fulfills a void in his life through political, economical, militant or other means. In Othellos case this is his war duties. This kind of honor and worth allows the character to still stand on his own and appear as a strong and undivided man.
The vital struggle that the character Othello faces is trying to discern the truth to believe in. His own self pity and suspicions of others allows Iago to even make Othello question the truth that his wife speaks. This struggle within himself shows the weakness of Othello. It shows how his own doubts and questions of how is view allowed for evil and deception to easily overrun his mind. The actor must understand that this is not because Othello is slow or easily influenced, but rather partly worn and broken by his isolation from his own town. Iago is able to awaken these feelings of rejection and confusion that feed the feelings of evil and betrayal. By this it is how Othello grows able to murder his own wife. His mind is clouded and overwhelmed with years of feelings building up until the seal is broken by a wise and malevolent plot. The actor can not just assume that the character is able to do such sinful things without provocation. Instead the actor must be able to grasp that through the play the mentality of Othello gets more and more intense and with constant withdrawal and questioning of those around him, he grows almost this sense of paranoid that the acceptance he believes people are giving him is only a front.
The essential scene that depicts this would be Act IV, Scene I. It is here that Othello reaches his breaking point and the darkness that consumes him continues on throughout the play, past him murdering his wife and questionable up to or even after his own suicide. It is in the beginning of Act IV that the audience gets a true realization of just how overwhelmed by his struggle that Othello truly is. This is the scene that the rest of the play has been building up to, slowing adding more and more weight onto the character until he breaks. And the audience understands this by physical showing. The evil and pain in Othellos mind has brought his own body into suffering and this trance he goes into shows this.
The actor must understand the true extent of this breaking down of character. As Othello says his speech that starts Lie with her! Lie on her! the actor needs to realize the self climax of darkness that is going on in Othellos mind at the time. It is a mirror of the plays own climax. It starts off with normal speech, but as the character loses his grip on his own mentality more and more, his words get confusing, slow to say and random to an extent.
To emphasize the power of this scene the actor and the crew must hint at all the right elements. The actor must draw out the characters pain, a slow realization of himself that he is not well but helpless to stop it. There is a great sense of confusion, a loss for what to think or say, and a tattered link between thought and speech. It is only right that the actor stumble on his words and change speeds to express this. The beginning will be of normal talk with a few instances of quicker dialect, but as it continues the speed will become much faster as Othello tries to keep up with his thoughts. But at the end it is clear he can not fully function or comprehend all of this at once and he starts to babble and speak in incomp lete sentences.
While the actor is doing this, the crew should play with the lighting to bring out the sad and eerie feeling of the speech. All lights on the stage will slowly dim, leaving only those that shine on Othello and Iago at their full brightness, casting an almost spotlight on the two. It will put emphasis on the primary good, Othello, and primary evil, Iago, of the play. The light should not only be on Othello for it is key for the audience to see I agos own reactions to Othellos break down.
In the end, Othello is really just a normal man trying to find acceptance in the world. He doesnt go about it the most expected way, but it is hard to say how one truly can achieve such acceptance. He suffers, enjoys, and endures life for whatever it brings him. In the end, though, his own weaknesses are sprinkled with salt until his wounds become too much and he becomes delusional to what is truth and what is dishonesty.
Jake Rose is an artist and an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Creative Writing.
Author:: Jake Rose
Keywords:: Othello,Othello review,shakespeare Othello,shakespeare review,Othello analysis
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