Teri Rice

12/14/2020

ENG2400

In this essay I will discuss the ethical issues presented between the written version of Othello by William Shakespeare and the two film versions: Othello, directed by Oliver Parker and O, directed by Tim Blake Nelson. I will talk about three different types of ethics that I believe were the most prevalent in each version which is deontology ethics, virtue ethics and utilitarian ethics. These three ethics played a major role in both the written and film version with differences being shown as well between them. Throughout both versions we see a case of good versus bad, a conflict with the right thing to do and the best thing to do as well as an act of selflessness and selfishness. Othello is based on a lot of deceit, self-doubt and lack of trust and we also see a lot of peer pressure and self-conflict resolution which was the grand scheme in all versions which brings up these ethical issues to be discussed. First, let’s discuss what each ethics mean. Deontology in simpler terms is the duty to do good by someone or something, virtue ethics is moral character or deciding the type of person you want to be, and utilitarian ethics is an action or decision that will benefit the vast majority of people.
Throughout the play Othello and the film versions, we see deontological ethics take place from the beginning to the end mostly pertaining the character Iago or in the modern film, Hugo. Both characters display an emotion of jealousy that turns into them manipulating and turning everyone against each other with their lies and deceit. Iago/Hugo is the most flagitious character in both the play and film. We learned from the first scene the obvious jealous emotions portrayed on both characters due to an appointed promotion of Cassio as Othello’s right-hand man or in the play the Lieutenant. We learn that Iago/Hugo is out to hurt everyone and settle scores as he enjoys people’s suffering. Jealousy takes over Iago so much that he even convinces himself that his wife Emilia was cheating on him with Othello and ends up killing her. Then it comes to Cassio, after his promotion, Iago’s jealousy is obvious. He says, “I know my price, I am worth no worse a place/One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, A fellow almost damn’d in a fair wife/ As masterly as he: mere prattle, with practice”. Those words stemmed from jealousy alone. Iago/Hugo were very selfish people, and their actions caused a lot of tragedy due to jealousy. Both characters betrayed their so-called friends and managed to create a web of lies that hurt everyone in the end. Their bad intentions to hurt the people around them was morally wrong and displayed the type of people they were, which brings us to virtue ethics.
Emilia who we know as Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid, first appears to be Iago’s puppet but shows great loyalty to Desdemona. Iago uses her as a way to set the scene between Cassio and Desdemona to look like inappropriate behavior was transpiring between the two. While Othello is talking to Emilia about Desdemona’s supposed infidelity Emilia scolds him saying “If you think other, remove your thought”. When Emilia realizes Othello has killed Desdemona, she immediately lashes out at him, fearlessly insists on bringing him to justice. As she realizes the role Iago played in Desdemona’s death, she doesn’t hesitate to oust him in front of everyone but her insistence on speaking out costs her her life when Iago stabs her in desperation. Emilia dies seeking reparation for her participation in Iago’s crimes. She helped Iago persuade Othello of Desdemona’s guilt. In the end Emilia showed great courage, self-assurance, and loyalty to Desdemona by bringing her husband’s wrong doings to life even if that meant losing her own life. Like the play, Emily in the film who was the character representation of Emilia was manipulated by Hugo but after finding Desi’s corpse after Odin took her life, she denounces Hugo’s lies to defend Desi’s reputation. Both characters displayed virtue because they were loyal, honest, and courageous for the protection of someone they cared about while risking their own life.
In the written play and film Othello, the scene when Othello and Desdemona are in the room alone and he confronts her about her infidelity with Cassio and Othello takes Desdemonas life, Desdemona shows an act of utilitarianism. Right after Othello smothers Desdemona, with her last couple of breaths she tells Emilia who walks in shortly after and finds her lifeless that it was a suicide to protect Othello. Desdemona is at times a submissive character and most notably in her willingness to take credit for her own murder. Her faithfulness to her husband and her choice to protect him showed us that whether her decision was right or wrong she would die trying to prove that her infidelity was false no matter the consequences in the end and her will to always remain loyal and faithful to Othello. After Othello finds out the truth and Desdemona die’s, the movie ends in the most tragic way with a lot lives lost but the truth was revealed, and Iago’s deceit became known. Deontology ethics, virtue ethics and Utilitarian ethics stayed the same between Shakespeare’s play and both films. Although there were some differences in the story line in the film O, all three ethics were represented the same way revealing a lot of ethical issues from scene to scene and giving us a deeper look into the story.