Great Works I: Remixing Memory

One major difference between the film and the original play written by Shakespeare is the presence of a sex scene between Othello and Desdemona. This particular scene in the film causes a change in the original story. The original plays shows Othello saying “… you chaste stars. / It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood”(5.2.2-3). This shows us that the method that Othello picks to kill Desdemona is very careful not to bloody the sheets. He believes that Desdemona was unfaithful and that blood on the sheets would be symbolic of her innocence. The sex scene gets rid of the importance of Desdemona trying to prove her innocence at the end. She can no longer prove her innocence by losing her virginity, which is an important part of the original play. While this scene separates itself from the original, other scenes in the movie serve to further points made in the book. A scene like Othello imagining Desdemona with Cassio helps show us his increasing suspicion and descent into a jealous rage. While this scene is not apart of the original story, like the sex scene, it serves to further the points made in the original play, as opposed to the sex scene that changes the play. The scene of Othello and Desdemona’s consummation of marriage gets rid of Desdemona’s attempt to prove her innocence as well as Othello’s unwillingness to spill her blood on the sheets. This takes away from the symbolic nature of the wedding sheets and the method of murder. The attempts to fit the play into a two hour movie, disposes of a lot of the original story in exchange for more visually pleasing scenes.