The Tragedy of Othello

When I took a Shakespeare course in high school, my teacher once told me that a tragedy is defined by a story where the main character reaches his or her downfall despite all efforts to avoid his or her fate. In The Tragedy of Othello: the Moor of Venice (1952), Welles stays true to this idea in his establishing shot. The story begins with an upside-down shot of Othello’s face as he lies dead about to be buried (00:01:03). This scene continues to illustrate Desdemona and her maid also being carried to their graves. Welles also includes images of Iago imprisoned. From this moment, the audience knows how the story will end and the fate of these characters is solidified. Welles’s choice to include this scene is very powerful and he plays off of the images he creates in this opening scene throughout the entire film.

In fact, the use of foreshadowing imagery was one of my favorite aspects of this film. One image that Welles used repeatedly was of Iago’s inevitable imprisonment. In the establishing shot we see Iago in a cage and then we are transferred to a shot from Iago’s perspective where all the audience sees are dark bars obstructing the view of the outside world. The image of dark bars is repeated later on in the film while Iago is talking to Othello (00:52:07). In this scene dark crisscrossing shadows appear over Iago’s face giving the impression that he is caged. Welles repeats this image a moment later when he zooms out to illustrate crisscrossing shadows covering Iago’s entire body and much of his surroundings (00:54:40). Welles also includes a shot earlier in the film (00:33:04) where Iago walks directly underneath the hanging cage where he will eventually be imprisoned. Iago is oblivious to the cage’s presence and continues scheming unaware of the consequences. The audience however, knows of Iago’s fate and therefore, can understand how the seemingly random images illustrate Iago’s future. This technique reminded me of the movie The Omen, where the deaths of characters were shown in photographs of them. Welles creates these foreshadowing images, once again illustrating that the character’s fate is definite and unchangeable.

I also really enjoyed Welles’s use of camera angles especially paired with the amazingly beautiful setting of the film. Welles often used camera angles slanting upward which utilizes the dramatic sky as a background. I was reminded of a photograph by Richard Avedon of Marc Chagall. (http://flickr.com/photos/25275107@N00/2199017364) Both Welles and Avedon use the sky as a blank background to isolate a character, while the slant of the camera makes the character look strong and powerful. This technique is used when Othello returns as a war hero and is reunited with Desdemona (00:20:15). The camera angle tells the audience that this is one of his most glorious scenes and the audience is possibly seeing and admiring Othello from Desdemona’s eyes.

Welles also uses camera angles in conjunction with dramatic scenery in the scene in which Iago and Othello violently discuss the possibility that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio (00:42:47). Here, Othello’s physical dominance is exaggerated by an upward camera angle with the sky as a backdrop. Shots of Iago however, are downward with the raging tumultuous sea in the background. This image illustrates Iago’s physical weaknesses and the sea makes the altercation between Iago and Othello more dramatic. Also, the camera angles change, as Othello becomes more susceptible to Iago’s deceit until Iago is illustrated with an upward angle with the sky as his backdrop (00:52:07). This change in camera angle illustrates Iago’s triumph and a dramatic shift in the plot.

Although I was impressed by a few of Welles’s choices, I wasn’t particularly blown away by the film. I had seen another more modern film adaptation of Othello and I thought that some of the modern director’s choices were more powerful. However, when I thought more about when this film was made, I became more impressed with Welles. This film was probably one of the first true film adaptations of a play, in that Welles used quick camera shots and a wide variety of close-ups and long shots instead of merely filming Othello as if it were just a film of a stage performance. Also, when I reflected on some of the aspects of the more modern film, I realized the contemporary director stole some ideas from Welles. For example, the opening shot where Iago and Rodrigo are watching Othello and Desdemona marry. This scene in the 1995 version looks exactly like the 1952 version especially in both directors interpretation of the setting.

When I was watching the film, the audio portion was a little funny and it was often very difficult to understand what the characters were saying. Also we couldn’t figure out how to put on the subtitles. In the end, I actually liked this quality. Because of the lack of sound, I had to rely on the visual aspects of the film to understand what was going on in the plot and this made me more perceptive to Welles’s choices as a director.