A Comparative Study of Racism in Shakespeare’s Othello and Jonathan Miller’s Film Adaptation

Abstract

This paper deals with the issue of racism in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, and its 1981 film adaptation directed by Jonathan Miller and broadcasted on the BBC. Othello is one of the most controversial and popular works of the English playwright, whose main topic is jealousy. Moreover, other topics such as racism, misogyny, cultural shock, cultural identity, sexual conflict or domestic violence are exposed. This tragedy, written at the beginning of the 17th century, shows us aistoryibased on feariof theiunknowniand marginalizationi due to racial problems, and consequentlyi turns a heroic Moori into a Moorishi villain. On the other hand, Jonathan Miller, the film director, felt that concern about the Venetian general's blackness prevented the audience from focusing on the main theme of the play, jealousy, so Miller cast Anthony Hopkins arguing that jealousy was not limited to members of the black community. William Shakespearei providesi a cleari vision ofi the social realityi of Elizabethani England showing a hostileiand prejudicedi society, where an interraciali relationshipi was somewhat unthinkable. On the other hand, Jonathan Miller, instead of faithfully following Shakespeare’s work regarding the appearance of the characters, decided to soften a crucial theme of the play, racism, giving the role of Othello to a white actor and using the technique of blackface.