Masala Malignity

[princeofcairo]

Earlier tonight, mollpeartree and I went to the Hindi Film Society screening of Omkara, which is Othello set in modern-day Uttar Pradesh. This may be the best screen Othello I've ever seen, although to be perfectly fair I haven't seen the Branagh one, not that I have any great hopes for it. This despite one or two liberties Vishal Bharadwaj (the scenarist-

Comments

[mawombat]

"the film's Othello and Desdemona do, actually, manage to have sex"

I don't understand this: are you saying the play's Othello and Desdemona don't have sex? Can you point me to the place in the text that says that?

Btw, would you like to write an official review of the movie for my website, http://www.shakespeare-revue.com ? we'd love it, and I don't know of anyone who could get their hands on it....

[princeofcairo]

I don't understand this: are you saying the play's Othello and Desdemona don't have sex? Can you point me to the place in the text that says that?They don't ever consummate their marriage, no. They're interrupted on their first wedding night in Venice, and then Othello is immediately sent to Cyprus, with Desdemona following on a different ship. In Cyprus, they try again, but Iago's row disturbs them and Othello spends the rest of that night with Montano. (There's also a school that points to the fact that the whole play takes place over Lent, during which apparently it was uncool to wed, and hence to have wedding nights -- Othello's Venice wedding is during Carnival, which is to say, the last night before Lent.) Shakespeare repeatedly refers symbolically to Desdemona's virginity, and her "wedding sheets" (upon which Othello murders her in the profane consummation of the play) are stainless. I refer you to Bloom for further discussion, although apparently the seminal work (I kid) is Nelson & Haines, "Othello's Unconsummated Marriage

[drcpunk]

This is open to interpretation, by directors and the like, but yes, that's how my Shakespeare professor taught me to read the text. The Branagh Othello, that is, Fishburn, does consummate the marriage. This works for the movie, as you can see Othello thinking, "She had sex with me and clearly enjoyed it, so she's obviously a whore" once Iago gets through with him. I found the movie worth seeing, but there are places I'd have done it differently. Still, one good thing is that, with Branagh as Iago, well, one can actually understand why this guy is trusted. Too often, I gather, Iago is played too heavily for that, and the text itself is pretty heavy with the dripping ironies, to the point where, the first time I read it, by the end of Act One, I was muttering that I'd smother the next person who said, "Oh, honest Iago

[drcpunk]

Ack! It double posted on me. Sorry about that.

[princeofcairo]

Fixed through the magical power of comment deletion.

[mawombat]

I've never heard this interpretation! It's so interesting. I've seen several stage versions, and in every one, the stage is just reeking of sex. I saw one in Turkey last year where it was just dripping raw!

[mawombat]

I have to admit that I hadn't run into that interpretation of the text myself (even when studying it for exams at school and reading round a fair number of the standard critiques, about thirty years ago), and yes, I've had the feeling from most productions that I've seen that the relationship has been consumated. I certainly can't say that the point is explicit, though I'll accept that it can be deduced from the play's timescales. Then again, the play seems to have one of Shakespeare's slightly vague time-structures...

There might even be a case for seeing Shakespeare as having it both ways - of letting anyone in the audience who wants their perfect tragic heroines to be virgins see Desdemona that way, while also reaching those who find the destruction of a complete relationship to be part of Iago's crime.

--
Phil Masters

[drcpunk]

Ah, found what I think is my source -- Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, in 2 volumes. I think I used Vol. 2.

Some of his ideas need to be taken with a grain or three of salt, but even those are useful, as they set one's mind thinking about the plays in new ways.

[mawombat]

Generally, we try to do full-length, professional reviews, so your post would be a little short for that. I'll ask mollpeartree.