Cultural references to Othello
In addition to its appearance in the theatre, the character of Othello from the tragic play by William Shakespeare has appeared in many examples in art and culture since being authored by Shakespeare in the early 16th century.
In the visual arts
The literary character of Othello and the plot of the play by Shakespeare has been a recurrent theme in painting for several centuries. Selected examples include The Plot depicting Othello and Iago, which was painted in oil by Solomon Alexander Hart in 1855. He also painted a watercolour version, held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Othello was a series of 60 paintings executed in 1985 by Nabil Kanso. It was published in 1996 by NEV Editions.
In 2018, the African American conceptual artist
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First Folio (1623) title page facsimile -
Othello with Desdemona in bed asleep by Christian Köhler (1859) -
Othello and Desdemona in Venice by Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856) -
Othello and Desdemona by Alexandre-Marie Colin, 1829 -
The Death of Desdemona by Eugène Delacroix -
Edwin Booth as Iago, ca. 1870 -
Italian actor Tommaso Salvini as Othello, 1875 -
American actor John McCullough as Othello, 1878 -
Othello relating his adventures to Desdemona and Brabantio from a steel engraving of a painting by Charles West Cope, 1873 -
Desdemona's Death Song by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ca. 1878–1881 -
Desdemona by Frederic Leighton, ca. 1888 -
Petre Otskheli design for Othello, staged by Kote Marjanishvili, 1933
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In opera
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Otello, a four-act opera with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsa and music by Gioachino Rossini was first performed at the Teatro del Fondo, Naples, on 4 December 1816. In contrast to Shakespeare's version, di Salsa provided an alternative happy ending to the work, a common practice with drama and opera at one time.
In ballet
Mexican choreographer José Limón created a 20-minute, four character ballet called The Moor's Pavane to the music of Henry Purcell in 1949. It is a standard in dance companies around the world and notable interpreters of the Moor include Rudolf Nureyev.
The ballet Othello was choreographed by John Neumeier to music by Arvo Pärt, Alfred Schnittke, Naná Vasconcelos et al. and was premiered by the Hamburg Ballet in Hamburg on 27 January 1985, with Gamal Gouda as Othello, Gigi Hyatt as Desdemona, and Max Midinet as Iago. The work remains in the repertoire of the Hamburg Ballet, seeing its 100th performance in 2008.
Another Othello ballet, by Iranian Armenian composer Loris Tjeknavorian, was commissioned by the Northern Ballet company and was shown in London in 1985. The musical score, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, was recorded by EMI.
In 2002, modern dance choreographer
In film
- See also Shakespeare on screen (Othello).
Between 1948 and 1952,
Unlike Welles's film, Stuart Burge's Othello (1965), based on John Dexter's National Theatre Company's production, starring Laurence Olivier, brings issues of race to the fore.
Trevor Nunn's 1989 version, filmed at Stratford, cast black opera singer Willard White in the leading role, opposite Ian McKellen's Iago.[5]
The
In other film adaptations
- 1909 silent film shot in Venice[6]
- 1909 German directed by, and stars, Franz Porten as Othello, Henny Porten as Desdemona, and Rosa Porten as Emilia.
- 1914 silent film shot in Venice[6]
- 1922 Othello, German, starring Emil Jannings as Othello, Werner Krauss as Iago, and Ica von Lenkeffy as Desdemona[6][7]
- 1947 Othello forms the backdrop for the 1947 film noir A Double Life in which actor Anthony Johns (Ronald Colman) becomes so immersed in the production, that he takes on the Moor's murderous jealousy in his real life.
- 1952 Othello, United States, directed by, and stars, Orson Welles as Othello, also starring Micheál Mac Liammóir as Iago, Robert Coote as Roderigo, Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona, Michael Laurence as Cassio, Fay Compton as Emilia and Doris Dowling as Bianca.[8][9]
- 1956 Andrei Popov. Directed by Sergei Yutkevich.[10]
- 1956 Jubal, Western setting
- 1962 All Night Long (British) Othello is Rex, a jazz bandleader. Dave Brubeck and other jazz musicians appear in the film.[11]
- 1965 Othello with Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay, and Joyce Redman[12]
- 1967 Othello-67. Directed by Fyodor Khitruk. A 50-second animated parody made for Montreal's Expo 67.[13][14]
- 1974 rock musical, directed by Patrick McGoohan and starring Richie Havens, Lance LeGault, Season Hubley and Tony Joe White.[15]
- 1982 Othello, the Black Commando written by and starring Max H. Boulois with Tony Curtis as Colonel Iago and Joanna Pettet as Desdemona[16]
- 1986 Otello, adaptation of Verdi's opera of the same name
- 1992 Champakulam Thachan, a Malayalam film.
- 1995 Othello with Kenneth Branagh, Laurence Fishburne, and Irène Jacob. Directed by Oliver Parker.[5][17]
- 1997 Jayaraaj.[18]
- 1997 Othello: Dangerous Desire (alternative title: Othello 2000), a modern hardcore pornographic re-telling directed by Joe D'Amato and starring Sean Michaels.[19]
- 2001 O, a modern update, set in an American high school. Stars Mekhi Phifer as Odin (Othello), Julia Stiles as Desi (Desdemona), and Josh Hartnett as Hugo (Iago).[20]
- 2002 Eloise a modern update, set in Sydney, Australia.
- 2004 Stage Beauty, a romantic period drama, set in the 17th century, on the theme of male and female actors playing women's roles – with the role of Desdemona as the example.
- 2006 Ajay Devgan as Omkara (Othello), directed by Vishal Bhardwaj[21]
- 2008 Jarum Halus a modern updated Malaysian version, in English and Malay by Mark Tan.[22]
- 2012 Otel•lo,[23] a free adaptation directed by Hammudi Al-Rahmoun Font.
On television
- 1955 Othello, aired on BBC Television, with Gordon Heath as Othello. A telerecording of the broadcast still exists[24]
- 1981 Othello, part of the BBC's complete works Shakespeare. Starring Anthony Hopkins and Bob Hoskins.[25]
- 1990 Othello (1990) A videotaped version of the last Royal Shakespeare Company production at The Other Place starring Willard White, Ian McKellen, Clive Swift, Michael Grandage, Sean Baker, and Imogen Stubbs. Directed by Trevor Nunn.
- 2001 Othello. British made-for-TV film. A modern-day adaptation in modern English, in which Othello is the first black Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police. Made for ITV by LWT. Scripted by Andrew Davies. Directed by Geoffrey Sax. Starring Eamonn Walker, Christopher Eccleston and Keeley Hawes.[26]
- 2008 Othello, The Tragedy of The Moor. A two-hour television adaptation starring Carlo Rota in the title role. Director Zaib Shaikh maintains the theatrical feel of the play, while shooting in a studio-controlled environment. Also starring Matthew Deslippe as Iago, Christine Horne as Desdemona, Graham Abbey as Cassio. The adaptation was co-written by Zaib Shaikh and Matthew Edison.[27]
- 2011– An Indian daily soap named "Gunahon ka Devta" aired on Imagine TV was loosely based on Shakespeare's famed Othello
- 2022 Sylvester Stalone visually features the book and his character is said to have read it during his incarceration.[28]
In music
- In 1891-2, the Bohemian/Czech composer Antonin Dvořák composed the overture 'Othello', Op 93 (cf Othello)
- In 1914, the Ukrainian-born Sergei Bortkiewicz composed his orchestral Symphonic poem after 'Othello', Op 19.
- In 1963, the Soviet composer Vladimir Yurovsky finished his tragic Symphonic poem for a narrator, choir and orchestra after 'Othello', Op. 58.
- In 1987, Australian singer Paul Kelly wrote a song called "Desdemona", a reference to Othello's love interest.
- Chicago-based hip-hop group Q Brothers created a modern adaptation with Othello being a record producer called "Othello: The Remix."
- In 2014 R&B artist SZA referenced characters from Othello and Shakespeare himself on her song "Childs Play": "Come Desdemona / Othello and tragedies / Shakespearean sorrows".[29]
- In 2016 R&B artist Frank Ocean referenced Othello in his song Nikes "Must be on that white like Othello".[30]
- "The Exorcist.[31]
- In 2017 singer-songwriter Harry Styles possibly referenced Act III Scene III in his song "Sweet Creature."[32]
Graphic novels
Othello, an adaptation by Oscar Zárate, Oval Projects Ltd (1985). It was reprinted in 2005 by Can of Worms Press and includes the complete text of the play.
In January 2009, a manga adaptation was published in the United Kingdom, with art by Ryuta Osada. It is part of the Manga Shakespeare series by Richard Appignanesi, and is set in Venice in carnival season.[33]
Fiction
Christopher Moore combines Othello and The Merchant of Venice in his 2014 comic novel The Serpent of Venice, in which he makes Portia (from The Merchant of Venice) and Desdemona (from Othello) sisters. All of the characters come from those two plays with the exception of Pocket, the Fool, who comes from Moore's earlier novel based on King Lear.
The supporting character
The plot of the Portuguese language novel Dom Casmurro by the Brazilian author Machado de Assis, a translator of Othello into Portuguese, is based upon the play. It is generally considered one of the great novels of Brazilian literature.
In 2017, Hogarth (a division of Penguin Random House company) published, as part of the Shakespeare Project, a novel by Tracy Chevalier, New Boy. The characters from Othello are transposed in a Washington D.C. school where eleven-year-old boys and girls re-enact the shakespearian tragedy but in the 1970s.
Mustafa Said, the Sudanese central figure of Tayeb Salih's Arabic language novel Season of Migration to the North (1966) refers to himself as Othello and kills his English wife with Jean Morris with a knife out of jealousy.
Other
- Othello Cake, Danish cake with a Macaron base, cream and chocolate glaze. The cake is named after the play, with the white cream and dark chocolate signifying the relationship between Desdemona and Othello.[34]
References
- ^ "I Saw Othello's Visage in His Mind | Smithsonian American Art Museum".
- ^ Otello (1986)
- ^ "Biographical information for Placido Domingo". Kennedy Center. Archived from the original on 14 August 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
- ^ "Great Performances . Dance in America: Lar Lubovitch's "Othello" from San Francisco Ballet". PBS. Archived from the original on 26 March 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-312-23393-8
- ^ a b c Buchanan, Shakespeare on Silent Film (2009)
- ^ Othello (1922) IMDb
- ^ "Othello (1951) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ISBN 978-3-88842-042-9
- IMDb
- ^ All Night Long (1962)
- ^ Othello (1965)
- ^ Animating Out of Spite. Animation Obsessive. 2021-10-24.
- ^ "Othello-67" on Youtube
- ^ "Catch My Soul (1974)". IMDb.
- ^ IMDb Othello, the Black Commando
- ^ Othello (1995) IMDB
- ^ Kaliyattam (1997)
- ISBN 978-1-137-07867-4. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
- ^ O (2001) IMDb
- ^ Omkara (2006)
- ^ "Jarum Halus official website". Jarumhalus.com. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ otello.cat
- ^ Wyver, John (3 March 2012). "Othello (BBC, 1955) | SCREEN PLAYS". Screenplaystv.wordpress.com. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ Othello (1981) (TV)
- ^ Othello (2001) (TV) IMDb
- ^ "Othello". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ "Dwight's Books In Tulsa King Secretly Reveal 5 Details About Him". ScreenRant.
- ^ "Come Desdemona, Othello and tragedies / Shakespearean sorrows".
- ^ "You must be on that white like Othello".
- ^ @bastille (17 December 2015). "@alexandra_hurts indeed! It's Othello meets The Exorcist" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Mench, Chris (2 May 2017). "Harry Styles References Shakespeare's 'Othello' On New Single "Sweet Creature"". Genius. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
- ^ "Othello". Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ "Othellokage". La Glace (in Danish). Conditori La Glace. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
External links
- The Annotated Othello Complete text of Othello with explanations of difficult words and passages. No ads or images.
- Othello Navigator Archived 15 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine—Includes the annotated text, a search engine, and scene summaries.
- Cinthio's Tale—A 19th-century English translation of Shakespeare's primary source.
- Othello—analysis, explanatory notes, and lectures.
- Othello—Scene-indexed and searchable version of the text.
Othello public domain audiobook at LibriVox- Cultural references to Othello at the Internet Broadway Database – lists numerous productions.
- Othello study guide, themes, quotes, multimedia, and teacher resources
- Othello Act and scene wise summary & quotes, analysis, characters, topic discussions.
- Othello Archived 15 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine at the British Library
- Othello—Annotated text aligned to Common Core standards.
