Essay Questions

In what way is this movie different from William Shakespeare's original play?

In many ways, the film is loyal to the play as written by the Bard; the play's original lines are used, and the differences are not so much in anything that is taken out - nothing is - but in what has been added in. There are several "silent scenes" where there is no dialogue but where the audience is able to see a visual representation of relationships between different characters or of the way in which situations evolve within the different members of the group. For example there are dialogue-less loves scenes between Othello and Desdemona that demonstrate their love for each other but also demonstrate why Othello is so enraged over any suspected affair that he believes his wife may be having. Therefore the film differs from the play in the additional scenes added into it rather than in changing or leaving out anything from the original play.

Emilia's role is small in the film itself yet her character is extremely pivotal in the plot. Why is this?

Emilia is Iago's wife and does not feature predominantly in the plot of the film; she is also Desdemona's companion. She does not really feature a great deal in the action yet she is extremely important because her decision to inform Othello of her husband's scheming turns everything upside down for all of the characters, but especially Othello himself. Emilia comes into Desdemona's bedroom just as her "mistress" has been murdered by Othello; she tells him that there was no relationship between Cassio and Desdemona and that Iago made the whole thing up in an attempt to destroy both Othello and Cassio; Desdemona herself was collateral damage. In telling him this, she clears Cassio's name (he is not a shameless stealer of other mens' wives after all) she has confirmed Desdemona's loyalty to her husband - thereby telling him that he has murdered her in a rage over something that never happened, and as a result he is so extremely remorseful and unable to cope with what he has done that he kills himself as well.

Telling Othello about Iago's scheme also changes everything for Iago; he is hunted down and stabbed, but Othello does not succeed in killing him himself. Instead, Iago is taken away, tortured and will ultimately be executed. In this way, Emilia is a peripheral character but the small role she does play in the plot itself directs what happens to the surviving characters.