This article contains spoilers!
The Tragedy of Othello, often shortened to simply Othello, is regarded as one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. It details the fury and jealousy of a military commander named Othello, who is manipulated by his lieutenant Iago into believing that his wife is cheating on him with another man. Hungry for revenge after Othello has chosen to promote someone less qualified than himself to a higher military rank, Iago uses his loyal friend Cassio as a pawn in his schemes. He convinces Othello that Cassio is sleeping with his wife, Desdemona, leaving Othello enraged.
A major prop in the play is the first gift Othello ever gave to Desdemona, a handkerchief, which she keeps for years and cherishes deeply. Knowing its sentimental value, Iago steals this handkerchief and plants it in Cassio’s room to make it appear as though Desdemona has been unloyal. In a fit of pure envy, Othello decides to kill both Desdemona and Cassio. However, once he discovers Iago’s lies it is far too late, and the play concludes with Othello committing suicide out of grief and self-loathing.
This tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal has been portrayed in countless different ways onstage, but it takes on a new form in Tim Blake Nelson’s modern-day movie rendition. O, directed by Nelson and written by Brad Kaaya, takes place at a preparatory school with a skilled basketball team eager to win the regional championship. The team is confident they can win with their star player, Odin, at the forefront. At the start of the film Odin is presented the award of Most Valuable Player as selected by faculty and his coach, Coach Goulding. This is much to the dismay and envy of Coach Goulding’s son and Odin’s fellow teammate, Hugo. Hugo resolves to trick Odin and drive him mad just as Iago did Othello, slowly convincing him that his friend Michael is sleeping with his girlfriend.
Odin is madly in love with his girlfriend Desi, as shown to the audience through several tender moments they share in the first half of the film. During one of these interactions, Odin gives Desi his grandmother’s handkerchief, a family heirloom that he claims he is only allowed to give away to someone he loves dearly. This same handkerchief is later used as the basis for Hugo’s acts of deception, just as in Othello. Hugo strategically plants this handkerchief to make it appear as though Desi has given it to Michael in an ultimate act of betrayal.
It’s important to note the manner in which O seeks to tackle the crucial themes of race prevalent throughout Shakespeare’s original work. In the play, Othello’s race serves as a way in which to separate him further from all the other characters in the story—Shakespeare describes him as being a Moor (a term used to refer to people from North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa), and in many interpretations of the play Othello is cast as a Black man. In the 2001 film, Odin is the only Black student at his entire high school, and the discrimination he faces throughout the movie only adds to the anger he holds as a character. Whilst already consumed with jealousy from the idea of Desi cheating on him with Michael, Hugo claims that the two have been calling him racial slurs behind his back. Additionally, at the film’s conclusion, Odin offers a poignant speech on how he prays that others understand that his crazed acts of murder and eventual suicide were done out of the most intense form of jealousy for Desi’s love, and had nothing to do with “where he came from.”
O attempts to shed new light on Shakespeare’s timeless work. This unique interpretation of Othello and Iago’s characters offers a fresh perspective on the envy that so dangerously fueled their motives throughout the story. Othello, originally performed by white actors wearing dark makeup, is able to be portrayed far more accurately with a Black actor playing Odin. In this way, the film is able to better emphasize the divide between Odin and the rest of his community, as well as the ways in which his anger and short temper are fueled by his being an “outsider.”
