Othello Characters

Iago and Cassio are foil characters. Although Iago makes it seem like him and Cassio are best buds, as the play unfolds it is clear that Iago does not care for Cassio. After all, he tries to kill him. One minor character that plays a major role is Emilia. Emilia is a dynamic character. She goes through a major change throughout the play. At the beginning of the play, Emilia is very obedient to Iago and takes all of his insults with grace. By the end of the play, Emilia reveals Iago's evil plan and is the main reason that everyone was able to figure out what happened. Emilia disobeys Iago and stands up for herself.

Dramatic Suspense

Othello by William Shakespeare is a play with a lot of dramatic suspense. After all, it is a tragedy, and none of the characters die until the last act of the play. Iago's plan goes exactly as planned almost throughout the entire play, which causes suspense because the audience knows something bad has to happen eventually. The audience knows that there has to be some flaw in all the evil that Iago creates among the characters. The audience must anticipate that some of the characters will die as well. Shakespeare keeps this suspense alive throughout the first four acts of the play. This keeps the audiences attention. Any type of suspense in a play is used to help captivate the audience and keep them focused and thinking throughout the work.

Death, Death and more Death

So, Act V had a few murders in it. And of course, Iago, being the one who caused all of the murders, survived. I feel that Iago's living represents that evil can never fully die; it will always exist. Othello said that he didn't think that Iago deserved to die because death brings happiness. I agree with Othello's thinking in that if Iago died, then he would've kind of gotten the easy way out. Now Iago is put in the hands of Cassio, who gets to decide the ways in which Iago will be tortured. This part of the play is kind of ironic in that Iago was controlling Cassio's life. Iago was convincing Othello to kill Cassio by telling Othello that Cassio slept with Desdemona. Now, Iago's life is completely controlled by Cassio.

Othello-Emilia's Role

Emilia plays an important role in the play. At the beginning, the audience sees her as a wife who is not treated with the least bit of respect by her husband. However, Emilia is faithful to Iago and does as he wishes. She steals the handkerchief from Desdemona in order to facilitate her husband's evil scheme. Emilia can be seen as innocent because she is unaware of the implications of her actions. She is a friend to Desdemona and gives her comfort when its needed. She represents the ideas and beliefs of many of the other characters. She is trusting in the fact that she believes what other people will tell her or in other cases just doesn't care enough to know what her actions are causing. Emilia is a mediator between Iago and Desdemona and indirectly to Othello.

Othello-tragedy

Othello by William Shakespeare is a tragedy. The audience's awareness of this idea allows them to think more deeply about the action that is taking place during the play. If the audience knows what type of play they are experiencing, then they will be more able to predict the outcome and understand the words and action of the play. This play is also romantic. At the beginning and through the middle of the play, Othello's relationship with his wife is a key factor involving romanticism. Knowledge of the classification of this particular play would give the audience the opportunity to read in to the details. They will understand why Iago acts the way he does and plans evil to befall on Othello. An understanding of the themes also facilitates the audience's ability to know the play.

Othello-themes

This play is characterized by a few different themes. Jealousy is a theme throughout the work that leads to some of the characters downfall. Othello becomes full of jealousy when he suspects that Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio. His jealousy is already starting to separate him from Desdemona. Othello's jealousy is caused primarily by Iago's jealousy. Another theme is that things are not always as they appear. To Othello, Iago appears to be an honest and trustworthy friend; however, Iago is jealous and plotting to destroy Othello and Cassio.

"The Lottery" Adaptation

PLOT

I would not change a lot with the plot; however, I would switch up a few things. I would create more suspense in the film, which would help build up the climax. I would have a baby cry in the silence of the gathering in order to foreshadow bad things to come. I would keep the climax the same by having Mrs. Hutchinson draw the wood chip with the black dot on it. I would add a resolution to the film where it would jump to the future and view the changes in the village. The village will have discontinued the lottery and moved on in a more modern world. The old man in the town would have died; these changes are significant in that the village will no longer be blindly following traditions.

POINT OF VIEW

The short story is told from the third person omniscient point of view. I would have the film be told from this point of view as well. With the third person omniscient the narrator is able to portray the film in an unbiased manner. This in turn will give the audience a better depiction of what the village stands for as a whole. The use of the third person omniscient point of view is significant in that the village has to act and think as a whole. Individuality is non-existant. I would keep the point of view the same as the short story in the film because it helps to emphasize the climax and contributes to the greater meaning of the work.

CHARACTERIZATION

Throughout the short story, some of the families suggest the idea of ridding the village of the lottery; whereas, others are strictly for the lottery because it is a long standing tradition. I would continue the unsettling desires and conflicting ideas of the villagers. There needs to be some sort of dislike toward the lottery and a slight desire to rid the village of the practice in order to completely eliminate the tradition of the lottery by the end of the film. I would portray the oldest village man as a man set in his ways, similar to the short story; however, the man will die in the end of the film. The death of the old man will be significant in that it will foreshadow a new age for the village. A new time full of new ideas and practices and the death of old ideas and old practices.

SETTING

The setting of the film would be a similar setting of a small village. The town gathering space would be elaborate with decorations and pictures of the lottery traditions of the walls surrounding the gathering space. The pictures will provide a source of suspense for the viewer and a foreshadowing of bad things to come. I would change the time of the lottery to dusk from midday. Changing the time of the lottery to later will set the scene for a greater climax toward the end. Also, the village is not happy, bright, or peaceful; therefore, I want the setting to reflect the sort of darkness that can be indirectly seen in all of the characters.

THEME

I would also keep the same theme in the work when adapting it into a film. The theme is blindly following old traditions. If one were to significantly change the them, then it would not be the same story; therefore, I would portray the same thing, but rather add more to it. The theme will be reinforced by the idea that not one of the villagers will stand up and fight against this odd and brutal tradition. The theme will also have a theme of selfishness. The story touches on this theme when the children cheer as they see they have pulled blank wood chips. The film will display a greater significance of this theme by having the other women scoff at Mrs. Hutchinson as she arrives late. Individuality is a key in the short story and will be in the film in order to portray a broken society that is in need of reform.