Othello Play Vs Movie Essay

Oliver Parker’s film adaptation of Shakespeare 's play Othello brings the play to life in an interesting way. Parker tries to stay true to the play, from the characters, lines, and scene development. We see that Parker’s portrayal of the characters and the scenes brings the film to life in a way the play cannot. Laurence Fishburne portrayal of Othello is convincing and conveys to the audience that a noble man can succumb to jealousy that destroys him. Though Fishburne’s portrayal is great, Kenneth Brannagh 's portrayal of Iago is less than stellar. In the play, Iago is seen as a someone who is cruel and deceiving, but in the film, while he is still cruel and deceiving, Brannagh’s portrayal of Iago is not as well done as it could have been. Brannagh is not a cruel enough looking person. He just does not match the way Shakespeare portrayed him the play. Other Actors such as Nathaniel Parker, Cassio, and Irène Jacob, Desdemona, did a good job at portraying their characters like Shakespeare had described them through both the way they gave the dialog and the scene itself. Throughout the film, Oliver Parker cuts many lines that are in the play, but he makes up for them in adding a few more scenes to give context for the watcher. By adding a few scenes here and there Parker is able to give the audience a visual effect that a play

Throughout the play, Iago has many soliloquies in which he tells us of his plans and all we get is Iago talking, but with the film we see a lot more going on the just what the play describes. When Parker gives the close ups to Iago we feel as if he is talking to us and telling us about his evil plan. Then we have the wide camera angles that show us that there are other activities going on beyond just what the actor is saying. I believe that Parker did a good job with his camera angles and used the well to portray the film in an interesting