Othello
Tags: tragedy, romantic

Plot synopsis:
=== Act I ===
Roderigo, a poor and dissolute gentleman, complains to his friend Iago, an ensign, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. Roderigo is upset because he loves Desdemona and had asked her father for her hand in marriage.
Iago hates Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio above him, whom Iago considers less capable a soldier than himself, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Meanwhile, Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.
Brabantio, provoked by Roderigo, is enraged and will not rest until he has beheaded Othello, but he finds Othello's residence full of the Duke of Venice's guards, who prevent violence. News has arrived in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio has no option but to accompany Othello to the Duke's residence, where he accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft.
Othello defends himself before the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsmen Lodovico and Gratiano, and various senators. Othello explains that Desdemona became enamoured of him for the sad and compelling stories he told of his life before Venice, not because of any witchcraft. The senate is satisfied, once Desdemona confirms that she loves Othello, but Brabantio leaves saying that Desdemona will betray Othello: "Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:/She has deceived her father, and may thee." Iago, still in the room, takes note of Brabantio's remark. By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Iago's wife, Emilia, as Desdemona's attendant.
=== Act II ===
The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a general celebration and leaves to consummate his marriage with Desdemona. In his absence, Iago gets Cassio drunk, and then persuades Roderigo to draw Cassio into a fight. Montano tries to calm an angry and drunk Cassio down, but end up fighting one another. Montano is injured in the fight. Othello reenters and questions the men as to what happened. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught. Iago persuades Cassio to importune Desdemona to convince her husband to reinstate Cassio.
=== Act III ===
Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. When Desdemona drops a handkerchief (the first gift given to her by Othello), Emilia finds it, and gives it to her husband Iago, at his request, unaware of what he plans to do with it. Othello reenters and vows with Iago for the death of Desdemona and Cassio, after which he makes Iago his lieutenant. Act III, scene iii, is considered to be the turning point of the play as it is the scene in which Iago successfully sows the seeds of doubt in Othello's mind, inevitably sealing Othello's fate.
=== Act IV ===
Iago plants the handkerchief in Cassio's lodgings, then tells Othello to watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, a local courtesan, but whispers her name so quietly that Othello believes the two men are talking about Desdemona. Later, Bianca accuses Cassio of giving her a second-hand gift which he had received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona.
Enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife and asks Iago to kill Cassio. Othello proceeds to make Desdemona's life miserable, hitting her in front of visiting Venetian nobles. Meanwhile, Roderigo complains that he has received no results from Iago in return for his money and efforts to win Desdemona, but Iago convinces him to kill Cassio.
=== Act V ===
Roderigo attacks Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. Cassio wounds Roderigo. During the scuffle, Iago comes from behind Cassio and badly cuts his leg. In the darkness, Iago manages to hide his identity, and when Lodovico and Gratiano hear Cassio's cries for help, Iago joins them. When Cassio identifies Roderigo as one of his attackers, Iago secretly stabs Roderigo to stop him revealing the plot. Iago then accuses Bianca of the failed conspiracy to kill Cassio.
Othello confronts Desdemona, and then strangles her to death in their bed. When Emilia arrives, Othello accuses Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The former governor Montano arrives, with Gratiano and Iago. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as proof, Emilia realizes what her husband Iago has done, and she exposes him, whereupon he kills her. Othello, belatedly realising Desdemona's innocence, stabs Iago but not fatally, saying that he would rather have Iago live the rest of his life in pain.
Iago refuses to explain his motives, vowing to remain silent from that moment on. Lodovico apprehends both Iago and Othello for the murders of Roderigo and Emilia, but Othello commits suicide. Lodovico appoints Gratiano Othello's successor and exhorts Cassio to punish Iago justly.

Review: I'd studied the play in school, of course (seems to have been mandatory in my day), and I'd seen the usual versions (Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, etc.), yet always this one nagging question kept gnawing at me, kept me from fully appreciating this play .
..How in hell could Othello ever let himself be taken in by so obvious a viper as Iago?Enter the BBC with its production of "William Shakespeare's Othello," with a particularly brilliant bit of casting: Bob Hoskins as Iago.
Roly-poly, giggling, everybody's friend and more than a bit of a buffoon, to boot -- until, that is, he's by himself and you suddenly understand the true nature of evil.And suddenly, I gained a true appreciation of the play.
Simply because some casting director stretched himself (or herself) beyond the tried-and-true glowering serpentine approaches (a la Frank Finlayson in the Olivier production, etc.) which had been the norm.It also helps, of course, that Hoskins is one truly fine actor..
A most excellent production of one of the Bard's more difficult plays mainly because of the controversy in these politically correct times of a white actor blacking up to play the lead.
Anthony Hopkins gives a masterful performance as the Moor, one of the best I have seen comparable only with Placido Domingo in the opera Otello.
His gradual change of character from gentle loving husband to insane jealousy is extremely well done and his way with the verse gives full meaning to Shakespeare's words.
For me the only jarring note was Bob Hoskins portrayal of Iago, so obviously a nasty piece of work that one wonders how Othello would be taken in by such an overt villain.
His giggling also becomes irritating, definitely not the best Iago I have seen.
One thing is sure, this production emphasises what a great Shakespearean actor the stage lost when Hopkins left for Hollywood.
Anyone who values real Shakespearean acting should not miss this production..
A Really Great Star Performance, but the Othello is a Problem.
I believe it was Laurence Olivier who theorized that William Shakespeare and his lead actor Richard Burbage were bending elbows one night when Burbage drunkenly taunted, "I can play any role you can write." And Shakespeare said, "Oh yeah?" and wrote Othello.The play is indeed entitled "Othello," but the focus is almost always stolen by the villain.
Bob Hoskins here is a brilliant Iago, character motivations for once crystal clear, his accent emphasizing class conflict, his ready laughter only occasionally too much.
You will not find a better Iago anywhere.We know that James Earl Jones was the first choice to star in this production, and that British Equity threatened to close down not just the one show but the whole BBC Shakespeare series if a single non-British actor was hired.However, when James Earl Jones played Othello on Broadway, it was common wisdom that Christopher Plummer's Iago stole the show from him.
So we shouldn't fantasize too much that Jones's presence here might have changed everything.Anthony Hopkins begins as a very confident character.
Hopkins doesn't look like a general, just like an earnest actor trying to solve problems.
After that, the performance goes downhill, and some of his choices undermine the later scenes.Is it miscasting, or just a play where the gargantuan scale of emotions defies reduction to television scale?
The Welles and Olivier productions were designed for large screens, not a small one.The much-loved Penelope Wilton here is the most "English" Desdemona I've ever seen.
The rest of the cast is excellent, with an overall energy level higher than the norm in this series.Jonathan Miller's direction concentrates on the domestic side of the drama, downplaying the public aspects, and bringing his background as a neurologist to the various varieties of mental illness on display.
If you want to see Othello with the thunder Shakespeare implied, go instead to Verdi's opera "Otello," which concentrates on the core of the conflict and distills sheer dynamite.
All the performers in this BBC production, directed by the brilliant Shakespeare director Jonathan Miller, are superb.
The fact that Anthony Hopkins is not literally a black man should be irrelevant.
Obviously, many white men have successfully performed the title role in this play since it was first written by Shakespeare and performed in Elizabethan England.
Hopkins is wonderful in the role, as is Bob Hoskins as Othello's nemesis Iago.
I have seen many performances of this play, live and on film, and this remains one of my favorites..
Both Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins give thrilling performances.
The quiet subtlety of Hopkins interpretation sets the viewer up for a shock when Othello's enormous brutality is revealed.
Penelope Hilton's work as Desdemona is equally impressive to that of Hopkins and Hoskins.
This is an impressive and unrelievedly grim production that omits most of the light-hearted bits of Shakespeare's play -- light-hearted bits that are few and brief in any event.Because the acting by Penelope Wilton is so excellent, we forget that she is not quite young enough and not quite attractive enough to be fully suitable for the role of Desdemona.
Wilton vividly conveys the bewilderment and desolation that Desdemona experiences as her beloved husband turns against her.Bob Hoskins is superb as Iago.
Precisely because Iago as played by Hoskins is highly likable on a superficial level, his merciless and devious psychopathy is truly chilling.
Hoskins displays his skill as an actor when he adopts an upper-crust accent in his summoning of Brabantio and in his gloating over the supine Othello.
He thereby signals one of the motivations behind Iago's crimes (without obscuring the fact that the crimes are driven partly by a love of evil for its own sake).Anthony Hopkins is not quite as successful in the role of Othello, but his performance is generally very good.
His slapping of Desdemona is jolting, and his final speech is both poignant and devastating.Most of the supporting actors are fine.
David Yelland is good in the difficult role of Cassio, and Anthony Pedley gives a splendid performance as the foppish Roderigo.
(Because her performance is so good, however, it highlights one of the problematic features of Shakespeare's play: namely, the implausibility of the fact that Emilia waits until the end to disclose why Desdemona's handkerchief has gone missing.).
So often Shakespeare contains such a morass of preconceived notions and line readings that it becomes a play containing characters and plot no longer,but a contest- delivering 'Ye Old English' lines in a pompous overblown manner.
Anthony Hopkins' performance (despite the alleged 'make-up' which I honestly didn't notice) was very good, and Bob Hoskins' interpretation of Diago was absolutely ingenious.
You may not like this version if you suffer from puerile preconceived notions on how Shakespeare 'must' be played, but if you want to see a good play that just happens to be Shakespeare, I highly recommend it!.
There is controversy here about the performances of Hopkins and Hoskins as the two major protagonists, and controversy about the nature of the production.That there is controversy is understandable - it's a very schizophrenic production, careful and understated and clipped and British for the most part, excellently acted by a tasteful cast, Penelope Wilton and Rosemary Leach outstanding.
Yet the two principals are given free rein.Hoskins' Iago is the more successful of the two, scintillating in monologue, focusing on the evil of the character, trying to convey his plausibility via his rough charm.
Hard to imagine the stiff-upper- lip types of Jonathan Miller's Venice being taken in by such a fellow, entertain them though he might.But there is more than one letter's difference between Hoskins and Hopkins.
Hopkins' performance is, as some of the reviewers have pointed out, as ripe a piece of eye-rolling ham as one is likely to see.
Despite other reviewers' valiant attempts, it is really not a defensible performance, rising so rapidly from suave control to chewing the scenery, persuaded far too easily by an Iago who is obviously on the make.The exaggerations help provide a context for his tense scenes with Desdemona - we certainly know how much he is holding back.
But when he lets rip, the acting style gets closer to Chongo out of the Banana Splits than any more accomplished thespian.The effect is not at all helped by Hopkins sporting the most extraordinary pair of trousers I have ever seen, designed by Richard Hughes.
The bizarre codpiece looks like Hopkins has had a painful accident with a stapler, and his stature is seriously compromised by odd curving stripes down the legs.
Anthony Hopkins is a horrendous over-actor at the best of times but he out does even Richard Burton in this one.
People who feel this is a 'good' version of Othello have likely never read Shakespeare nor seen any of his plays performed live.
This is version is a travesty for one obvious reason: Anthony Hopkins.
First of all, anyone who looks at Anthony Hopkins with the "black face" make-up (he is supposed to be a Moor not a Chris Rock joke from "Bamboozled") and doesn't burst out laughing is either blind or well...
Secondly, Anthony Hopkins plays Othello like a spastic, grunting ape-man.
Bob Hoskins Is The Best Iago Ever!!!.
While I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that Anthony Hopkins is a fairly disappointing Othello, Bob Hoskins as Iago is nothing short of spectacular.
He has a cultured voice and reads the lines beautifully, but whenever he has to show passion or emotion he just starts shouting and waving his arms wildly, looking more like the Wolf Man than the Moor of Venice.
It doesn't help matters that the lady playing Desdemona is more of a stately spinster than nubile ingenue.
Personally, I always pictured Audrey Hepburn as the ultimate Desdemona!One final note: I've never heard of Anthony Pedley, but I really loved how he played poor Rodrigo, a guy who just never has a chance.
Poor Othello, but still a great cast and a great play!.
I have to say, when my class started studying this film version of 'Othello', I looked forward to seeing Hopkins and Hoskins face off.
Instead, I viewed one of the most horrible performances of Shakespeare I have ever seen.
It was amazing; Hoskins plays Iago as a giggling, demonaical child with no more motivation than a teen movie prankster--in fact, even less.
Desdemona was a pure ice queen; she simply did not seem like the kind of woman that would leave her father and everything she knows for a mysterious foreigner.
Anthony Hopkins must have been under the guidance of the most inept idiot of a director, because this was the worst performance of his career!
I never thought I'd live to see the day when Othello would bark, growl, and shake his tongue like a hideously mad dog--after showing no hint whatsoever of anything like passion or love towards Desdemona, unless passing, pettish attraction is to be called the kind of desire and chemistry that existed between the lovers.
I have seen a few videos of this BBC series as part of my class, and most are pretty bad, even though they have really excellent actors in them.
Even if this film does not meet expectations of what 'Othello' should be, keep in mind that it is a BBC production, and that even though some of the production values are not up to scratch, it follows Shakespeare's original script.
Anyone looking to study Othello for any purposes should not give this one a miss.
Despite mixed reviews on the acting by Hopkins and Hoskins, we must respect the fact that when an actor plays a role in a Shakespeare play, they will play that character however they see fit.
Lawrence Oliver, for example, in a 1938 stage production, played Iago in a very homosexual manner, while Kenneth Branagh, in Parker's 1995 adaptation, shows Iago as a malicious psychopath.
So when you think that Hopkins doesn't live up to his reputation in portraying Othello, or Hoskins plays the part like a gnome on speed, just remember that they are professionals who play the part how they see fit..
You cannot deviate too much from the stage conventions that 19th century performers imposed on the plays.
The producers would lose their core audience: high school teachers.This play is particularly challenging because it hits a weak spot in film today: the tension between what actors and directors think is essential in the play (and life).
Of all the plays, this one presents the greatest opportunity for the actors to hijack the enterprise at the cost of the valuable sense of the thing.It's ironic because the main motion in the play's structure is just this idea of how the order of the environment fights the action of willful individuals within.I think the writer at this stage in his life worked from the outside in, focusing on the forces that are unloosed in the world, then forming images and analogies that finally can map to some story he finds.
So though schoolkids assiduously write about the "themes" of this, it is instead rooted in something more abstract and powerful.A good actor, a smart one, will know this and work hard with the director to create not a character but a world that buffets a character.
A good actor-director like Welles will have devised some cinematic devices to make this work.
Welles used cinematic architecture — by this I mean physical walls and spaces — in what still seems to be the highest achievement of that approach.A bad actor, and actor that ONLY knows acting, will jump on these lines and think they have to do with defining a man and his urges.
He will ignore the very notion of tragedy, the inevitability of the end because of the world, not the man.Hopkins is a bad actor.
At 205 minutes, this adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello" is no TV dinner but demands attention as it is a complex tale of jealousy, intrigue and tragedy.Returning from war, Othello (Anthony Hopkins, in a role originally intended for James Earl Jones) wins the respect of the people and marries his beloved Desdemona (Penelope Wilton).
David Yelland and Anthony Pedley are fine as his dupes Cassio and Roderigo, and Penelope Wilton as serene and innocent as Desdemona.I profoundly disagree with British Equity not allowing James Earl Jones to take the role of Othello, an idiotic decision at the time that would probably not happen now.But this takes nothing away from Anthony Hopkins, at least ten years before his star-making turn in "Silence of the Lambs" and giving Othello the full breadth of nobility, vicious jealousy and eventually overpowering guilt.
It's a great performance.Some of the performances are muffled by the poor volume levels on the DVDs, and many good lines and speeches lose some of their power as a result.Nevertheless, despite it's length, this is still great Shakespeare..
The play is so beautiful the actors are like stars in a Milky Way of horror.
Othello, the Moor, is a general for the Republic of Venice stationed in Cyprus and defending the island against the constant pressure from the Turks.
A pair that is clearly set up as the two perfect antagonistic characters with one being the predator and the other the pray, in that order.The objective of Iago is to become the lieutenant at first and then the general himself if possible.
He uses all kinds of plotting devices and he succeeds marvelously: planting jealousy in Othello's heart about Desdemona and Cassio gives him a first victory against Cassio who is eliminated from his lieutenant position and replaced by Iago, but the Duke a Venice arrives with orders from the Senate: Othello is to go back to Venice and Cassio is to take his place in Cyprus.
A full defeat for Iago.Then Iago speeds up the machine to eliminate Cassio by having him killed or at least incapacitated, and by heating the cauldron of Othello's jealousy till it may explode, and explode it does.
Othello tries to choke and strangle Desdemona and nearly succeeds but before dying she speaks a few words to her chambermaid, Iago's wife.
Then two letters are brought that were found on the body of Roderigo, the man Iago had used to assault Cassio, a man he had killed for him not to speak after his failure.
The two letters reveal the role of Iago in the plot.
The play closes on the squaring of the dead victims with the suicide of Othello on the body of his wife.
That's the whole play in one pattern: two women dead, two men dead, but on the stage only the two women and Othello.
Othello has expressed that pattern and the doom that was coming when he said in the second scene of the fifth act: OTHELLO: If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife: My wife!
But I must admit Anthony Hopkins in Othello is outstandingly provocative.
Othello was the role Hopkins always wanted to play.
But Hopkins is the actor Shakespeare had dreamed of (being?) all his life.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU.
This is the kind of production that turns people off to Shakespeare for life.
Anthony Hopkins is a great actor, but he gave the worse acting performance in the history of the art as Othello; he wasn't helped any by the horrific hair and make-up job that made him look like a Klingon werewolf.
Bob Hoskins on the other hand was a brilliant Iago; even the notoriously hard-to-please critic Harold Bloom thought he was the best Iago he'd ever seen.
Jonathan Miller's dry, academic direction typifies what was wrong with the 1980s BBC productions of Shakespeare, particularly the pedantic insistence on giving everything an Elizabethan English setting.
"Othello" takes place in Venice and Cyprus; it's a Mediterranean story that cries out for a Mediterranean setting, as Orson Welles demonstrated in his masterful 1952 version of "Othello," which is everything this movie isn't.
Also, why couldn't they have gotten a black man to play Othello?