The play "Othello" was about a noble Moor, Othello that was in love with a woman named Desdemona. In the Movie "O" the characters name is Odin and that are similar in many ways. Odin (Mekhi Phifer) is a superstar basketball player that is best friends with Hugo (Josh Hartnett). They play on the same basketball team and Odin is the only black student at his school. In the play "Othello" he is the only black person around that is noble. This is one of the similarities that the play and the movie have. Another similarity is that Othello promotes Cassio instead of Iago due to his breeding. In the movie Odin wants to share his most valuable player award with someone else besides Hugo. In both the play and the movie Iago/Hugo gets extremely upset with Othello/Odin and this starts the hatred towards Othello/Odin.
In the play and the movie the hatred towards Othello/Odin is so fierce. Iago/Hugo betrays his so called friend Othello/Odin. Iago/Hugo does not care who gets hurt in the process of destroying Othello/Odin. In the play and the movie Iago/Hugo is very envious of Othello/Odin, because he gets a lot of attention from everyone. Iago does not deceive Othello by himself he has help from his friend Roderigo. This is very similar to the movie "O" because Hugo is helped by his friend as well. They both mislead Othello into believing Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Othello is very trustworthy to his friend Iago and starts to believe what he is being told is true, even though he does not bother to ask Desdemona personally. Othello/Odin begins to believe Iago/Hugo that Desdemona is having an affair because Iago gets a hold of a handkerchief that Othello/Odin gives to Desdemona, which was given to Othello/Odin by his grandmother. It was a symbol in both the movie and the play. Othello/Odin finds out that Desdemona does not have the handkerchief in her possession he begins to assume that what he is hearing from Iago/Hugo is true. Once Othello/Odin begins to believe that Desdemona is unfaithful he starts to see things. Othello is getting pictures in his head of this friend Cassio making love to Desdemona and he begins to get angry. This is all apart of Iago's/Hugo's plan to destroy Othello/Odin.
Towards the end of the play Othello has a plan with Iago to kill Desdemona while she is in bed. They also have a plan where Roderigo and Cassio kill each other. Desdemona starts to plea with Othello for her life. Desdemona is telling Othello that she would never even think about having and affair with anyone. Othello starts to suffocate Desdemona and she stops breathing. Emilia tells Othello that Desdemona did not have an affair with Cassio and she also tells Othello that Iago was just putting thoughts in his head. Othello starts to find out that this was all apart of Iago's plan to destroy him. Iago tries to stop Emilia from telling Othello about what he has been doing to mislead Othello. Iago then kills Emilia and Othello then knows that Iago has betrayed him. This is when Roderigo is killed and Cassio is wounded. Cassio walks in the room and Othello pleads for his mercy. Othello then stabs Iago and lets him suffer. Othello at this point could not live since he wrongfully killed his true love so he takes his own life. The movie and the play are similar in many ways, like the names, story lines, the way people die and who dies.
The only differences between the movie and the play is that the movie is taken place in the year 2001 and it is portrayed in a very up-beat and new style. The movie is placed in the present time and the characters names are sort of altered. The movie is based in present time and made so others can relate to the movie and also compare it in many ways. Giraldi Cinthio, whom had written an Italian story in 1565, which Shakespeare bases his play Othello on. The play which is taken place in Venice was a big tourist attraction to people from Africa gave the land a diverse nature. He chooses Venice as the setting of the play to show his imagination. In the movie the characters are in high school and are just dating, whereas in the play they are married and are handling military and adult issues. The only big difference is that in the movie the characters do not talk with the same dialect. In the play they talk with a European dialect. In the movie they do not.
In conclusion you can see that there are many similarities and differences within the movie and the play. The play written by William Shakespeare and the movie written by Brad Kaaya shows the great work of both men.
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