Download Boekverslag Engels Othello door William Shakespeare

Boekverslag Engels Othello door William Shakespeare
Bibliografische gegevens
Title: No Fear Shakespeare: Othello
Publisher: Spark Publishing, New York, 2003
Author: William Shakespeare
The book contains character description, footnotes and easy to read translation into
modern English. Several editors are listed.
1. Expectations
Early 2005, it was decided that my family and I would attend a performance of Othello
by the Actors from the London stage in South Bend, Indiana, USA. I had enjoyed
reading the book Romeo and Julia from Shakespeare in the past and expected I would
like this famous early 17th century play. To prepare myself for this event, I read this
book.
2. Summary
Othello is a Moor and a general in the Venetian army. Cassio is an honorable soldier
under Othello. He is a true admirer of Othello. Iago is also a soldier. He is angry with
Othello for promoting Cassio as a lieutenant instead of himself. The story begins with
an argument between Iago and Rodrigo who is a wealthy Venetian and secretly in love
with Desdemona, Othellos young and beautiful wife. Rodrigo has paid Iago to spy on
Othello to denigrate his reputation and break up the couple.
Through further schemes masterminded by Iago, Othello becomes convinced of his
wifeҒs assumed infidelity with Cassio. Cassio gets demoted and Iago gets promoted to
the position of lieutenant as a reward for revealing Desdemonas alleged secret
relationship with Cassio. A livid Othello orders Iago to kill Cassio. Jealous Othello
strangulates Desdemona in her bedroom while she pleads her innocence.
Othello is surprised to hear that Cassio has killed Roderigo. Then Emelia, IagoҒs wife
and Desdemonas attendant, reveals the truth about the plan premeditated by Iago. Iago,
knowing he is now in trouble, stabs and kills his wife and escapes but get captured.
Othello stabs Iago who proudly confessed his plot. Othello asks Cassio to forgive him
for believing Iago. The story ends when Othello, realizing he has killed his faithful,
beloved wife, kills himself.
Explanation title
Othello is the main character of the book
Motto of the book
As stated in the preface, the motto of the book is reading ShakespeareҒs own words
fearlessly and actually enjoying it.
Description of the main characters
Othello, the protagonist, is a bold middle aged, highly respected general of the Venetian
army and a Moor. He is an eloquent speaker, who falls victim to his own destructive
jealously.
Desdemona is the beautiful daughter of a Venetian senator and wife of Othello. She is
pure and delicate. She defends her love for her husband with dignity till the end despite
his fits of rage and jealousy.
Cassio is Othellos devoted lieutenant. He is highly educated, but inexperienced in battle.
Despite rumors to the contrary, he has only honorable intentions toward Desdemona.
Iago is the villain who manipulates and deceives the other characters. He is driven by
hurt pride for having been passed over for the position of lieutenant in favor of the less
experienced Cassio. He is also driven by jealousy stirred by the rumors that his wife
Emelia has been sleeping with Othello as well as with Cassio. In the end, Iago is
condemned to a tortuous death.
Emelia is IagoҒs wife and Desdemonas loyal attendant. She is more cynical and worldly
than Desdemona.
Roderigo is young and rich and lusts after Desdemona. He foolishly gives Iago money
in return of the promise of IagoҒs help to win Desdemonas love. He is used by Iago to
ruin CassioҒs reputation and later killed by Cassio
There are other characters such as Desdemonas father Brabantio, the Duke of Venice,
the prostitute Bianca, the governor of Cyprus and two Venetian nobles.
Storyteller/format
The story is written as a play, so the characters tell the story. At times, there are short
comments about characters leaving or entering the scene and to whom the text is
directed.
Style
This tragedy is allegedly written in 1603. It is divided into five acts and is written in
Elizabethan English language. Within the play there are lyric passages, as well as
pedestrian prose with at times vulgar slang. Misfortune is at times lightened up by
humorous dialogue. For instance, when Iago tells DesdemonaҒs father Brabantio, even
now, now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe. [...] and your daughter and the
Moor are now making the beast with two backs.Ӕ
Themes
This play has an abundance of themes. It is about pride and dignity, love and
faithfulness, lust and infidelity, jealously and anger, vengeance and murder.
Time and Space
As is common in Shakespeares plays, there is a free use of time and space. It is not clear
exactly in what time span the play takes place, but it could have taken place over the
course of several months. The story unfolds at several locations: in Venice, on a ship,
and on Cypress. This free use of time and space was unlike the use of time and space in
the following Neoclassic era, in which a play had to unfold within a short time and in
one particular place.
3. Discussion Theatre Perfomance (Verwerkingsopdracht)
On February 12, 2005 my family and I saw ShakespeareҒs drama Othello performed by
Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS) in South Bend, Indiana, USA. I had read the
story before I watched the performance. I was enthusiastic about seeing the play and
wondered how the theatre crew would make the production exciting on stage.
The scenery consisted of nine chairs placed in a half circle on a lare stage. Two female
and three male actors, all wearing modern khaki pants and burgundy colored shirts,
walked on stage and introduced the characters they were going to play. They were to
play a total of 18 characters! This brought about a myriad of conventions between the
artists and the audience. This was somewhat confusing in the beginning, but soon I
understood the character metamorphoses.
The actors used simple props, different body language and voices to indicate the
transformation of the characters. A female actor played Desdemona when she wore a
white shawl, had a sweet voice and moved very delicately. She played the prostitute
Bianca when she had placed a flower in her hair and spoke and moved very playfully.
When she portrayed the governor of Cyprus, she wore neither shawl nor flowers and
had a more manly voice.
When the other female actor played the confident Emelia, she had donned a brown
shawl. When she was wearing a red beret and a fake mustache, she was Roderigo.
Cassio was played with a red beret. When the same actor took off his beret, stooped
over and had stiff movements, he played Desdemonas father Brabantio. Wearing a
medallion around his neck this actor portrayed a Venetian noble.
Continuously, the audience was enticed to use the imagination. Whenever an actor was
sitting on a chair in the half-circle, it was understood by the audience that this actor was
ғoff-scene. Off-scene actors successfully brought about simple ԓspecial effects. Flashes
of a camera implied lightning, roaring voices implied wind and pounding on the stage
floor thunder. This successfully brought the actors on a ship in a thunderstorm. It is
ԓpouring when shelter is sought underneath a raincoat. When the spotlights shone
brighter light, it was implied that the clouds had lifted. At the end of the play, when
Desdemona is strangled by Othello, a duffle bag became the lifeless body of
Desdemona that was caringly wrapped in a sheet and cradled by Othello. This made the
female actor ԓfree to play another character. Being forced to use my imagination was
one of the attractive elements of the performance. It showed that in our special-effects
world, it is still possible and fun to have my imagination stimulated.
The style of the play was rather authentic to ShakespeareԒs intentions. Shakespeare also
forced his audience to use its imagination. On a Shakespearean stage there was also
little detail on the scene and the materials used were simple. The objects used were
common everydayӔ objects. For instance, a chair could represent a throne room
(Cameron & Gillepsie). In the performance I watched, a chair represented a gangplank
from a boat to later represent a balcony. As was stated in the program booklet,
Shakespeare at the time instructed his spectators to Think when we talk about horses,
that you see them.Ӕ The old English language was used by actors with English accents.
As was done in the early 1600s, the actors at times addressed the audience directly
(Cameron & Gillepsie).
There were some differences between the tragedy I saw performed and the same tragedy
performed in an Elizabethan theatre: the use of build-in spotlights, flashlights in the
hands of the actors as mini spotlights,Ӕ and camera flashes to imply lightning could of
course not have been used at Shakespeares time. At the time, costumes were probably
important to the spectacle. In the Othello we watched, there were no elaborate costumes.
Costume changes were impossible with a skeleton crew playing different characters.
Shakespeare often used large numbers of cast members. Also, around the year 1600,
women were always played by male actors (Cameron & Gillepsie). I saw male roles
played by female actors.
4. My opinion
I enjoyed reading the book. I soon became used to the reading early 17th century
English language. The story is a display of pure core human emotions like pride,
jealousy, love, rage and despair. However, reading the book was topped by seeing the
performance. Although I had an evening in which four people were killed, and one was
condemned to a tortuous death, it was a very fascinating experience. It gave me a
greater insight in the lasting popularity of Shakespeare. It demonstrated that
Shakespeare - after 400 years Җ has not lost its power.
References:
Cameron, K.M. & Gillespie, P.P. (2004). The enjoyment of theatre. (6th ed.). Boston:
Pearson Education, Inc.