Richard Jimenez Briber Dry. Caste Hermiston English 320 29 May 2012 The “trusted” advisor Ago is the main antagonist character of Shakespearean “Othello, the Moor of Venice” also Othello ally, Ago is married to Emilie, who is an assistant to Othello wife, Desman. The story tell us that Ago hates Othello for some reason the readers don’t know, so he plans to get closer to Othello, therefore gain his trust and destroy him by saying that his wife is having an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassia, which it is a lie. As soon as Othello marries Desman we realize that Ago hates
Othello and want him to suffer. This play would have not fulfill readers satisfaction if Ago wasn’t in it. Ago is one of the most important characters of this play, if not, the most important character. He is the masterpiece of the play, without Ago this story would have never been this successful. What makes this story richer is the way of thinking of Ago, for example, how he planned everything and it worked so flawlessly, that is one reason why Ago is important to this play. Second, is how Ago studied everyone’s weakness and strengths and used it to his own benefit, for example,
Desman strength was that she was a really good friend so he knew that when Michael Cassia ask her to talk to Othello to get his Job back as a Lieutenant, she would have been very insistent to Othello and that would have cause Othello to believe what Ago said to him. Third, is the way in which he gradually started to implant the doubt that Desman was unfaithful in Othello mind, for example when he says “Look to your wife; observe her with Cassia”, that was the moment when Othello started to suspect. Fourth reason is the way he manage to manipulate Othello a very strong person, a man who was not weak into make terrible decisions.
Fifth motive and most importantly how he convinced Othello that Desman was disloyal, how he manages Othello to believe his lie. Also, how persuasive Ago is, for example, when he ask Emilie, his wife, to steal the handkerchief from Desman and she does that. Those are some reason why Ago makes this story superior, with his capability of manipulate people and the way he thinks. Ago is a very wisdom man and that it is what makes this play very enjoyable. He is very important to the play because without him there wouldn’t have been any drama or it would have never been so tragic the way it is.
This character is very complicated and that’s what it makes it so exciting , because you never know what’s coming next, what is his next plan. Ago is that type of character you want to know what is he thinking all time, what is inside his head, also the character that makes you think and question yourself, for example, why is he planning to destroy Othello? Why he hate him so much? Is it because of his Jealousness? Or because he is an evil person and wants people to suffer?. We don’t know much about Lagos reasons, although we know Ago has no good intentions.
Still, Ago gives to the play more suspense and drama than NY other character. Leaving behind the play, the amazing thing about pictures is that in a book you are imagining what you are reading but in a film you are watching what you were reading, and also a picture gives you more details that you might not have perceive it while you were reading the book, there have been many cinematographic adaptations of “Othello, the Moor of Venice”, one of them is directed by Oliver Parker in 1995 in which Kenneth Branch takes on the character Ago.
He interprets a very difficult and challenging character, which is Ago, and he does a pleasant Job by vying him credibility and uniqueness, his performance was so excellent that you can actually think that Ago would have been exactly like that if he existed.
His interpretation makes Ago to come alive, we see that as soon as Act 3 in the cinematographic adaptations begins, we see Othello and Ago going downstairs, is really impressive how the director adapt the movement of the character and the shots, to what is happening in the movie, let me explain what this meaner, as I was saying, at the beginning of Act 3 in the movie when Ago is leading they are going downwards and at the same time he is slowly trying to implant the doubt that
Desman is unfaithful to Othello, so we know that everything is wrong. We can see how the director uses Ago movements in a way to reflect that when Othello listens to Ago, everything is going down. So this works perfectly because we know Ago wants to destroy Othello and it helps also to understand his character too, that everything is erroneous when you follow and listen to Ago.
The director also demonstrates in some shots Lagos finality, which is to enclose Othello in a cage of Jealousy and doubt, and we can see that in some takes of the adaptation, one example is when Othello ND Ago are fighting with spears and Desman is watching the fight on a balcony, there are some moments when they are fighting that it looks like Othello is in a cage, which displays Ago finality. There are more shots that demonstrates this also throughout the movie (Othello behind bars) and help us understand Lagos character and what is his final objective.
There are other scenes in the movie that it reveals a little of Lagos personality so we can understand him better, in some scenes we can see him but the other character cant see him, let me develop this more closely, in a cake from the movie for example, when both Ago and Othello are in the bedroom, Ago continuous to poison Othello with the idea that Desman is cheating him, in a moment Ago leaves the room, so Othello think Ago is gone so he starts to talk to himself and then he starts to cry and we can see Ago looking at Othello behind him, he sees Othello as he is seeing and admiring his own painting in progress, we see in that moment that his plan is working. That scene fits completely because it helps to show that whatever Ago wants he achieves it. In some scenes of the movie, we can e how Othello and Ago are talking very closely, as if they were about to kiss, or in another part when Ago says to Othello “l am your own… Forever” while he is hugging Othello, we can see on his expression that he really meant what he said. This adaptation of “Othello, the Moor of Venice” help us to question what could be a reason for why Ago wants to destroy Othello, and by looking at some scenes we can suppose that Ago might be in love with Othello.
This movie helps the viewer to understand a little more the character of Ago, and gave us a possible reason for his actions, because he might be extremely Jealous. Another adaptation tot “Othello, the Moor tot Venice” is the 965 directed by Stuart Burger. When you watch this movie you feel like you are watching a play, because of the settings and that everything happens in the same place. You can infer that at that time there were a lot of technological limitations, also the way people act was not efficient, they exaggerate the way of acting. Comparing to the Parser’s Othello, you find a enormous difference in every way, because it is a 1965 picture and we talk about a 30 years old difference.
In this adaptation of Othello, Frank Finial, takes the art of Ago, and he doesn’t do Justice to what Ago is all about, when we see Keenness’s interpretation of Ago in 1995 Othello, we see how he brings to life to Ago with his performance, we can feel Lagos rage and intentions against Othello in the way he speaks and even on his face expressions, is brilliant Keenness’s transformation in this adaptation of Othello, but the Franks interpretation of Ago in sass’s Othello leaves much to be desired, his interpretation is quite the opposite of ass’s Othello, he doesn’t connect to the character Ago, his acting is poor because you can’t feel Lagos ate to Othello and he doesn’t gives to much to the character.
Speaking in the way it was directed, we can say it was quite alike to the Parser’s Othello, how the director adapt the movement of the characters and the shots, to what is happening in the movie, for example, there are scenes in which Ago is leading and everything is going downwards, or another example, when we see Ago behind Othello and that demonstrates back-stabbing. So comparing in that way, we can say is quite alike, but of course there are many details that I’m not considering because I’m focusing only on Ago. What the director doesn’t do in this adaptation is to add some details so we can understand more Ago as a character; in the Parser’s film we have many of these, but in this adaptation that lacked, some scenes that will help the audience to get to know better Ago, but in this film that was absent.
The Parser’s film gave clues or doubts to what really could be the reason of Lagos hate to Othello, but in this film they did not do this, they didn’t give a clue to what could be a reason of Lagos hate to Othello. So when we compare both adaptations of Othello we can see how different hey are (even though it have some similarities), and how “time” made the adaptations improve so much in so many ways. The way of acting, for example, Frank Finial acted in a more theatrical way, than Keenness’s interpretation. When you compare the way of acting of both you can see how much has improved over time, becoming more real so the audience could relate a little more to the characters.
I personally did not felt Finial performance; I didn’t find it exciting as Keenness’s performance because he added more drama and more tension, which Finial didn’t accomplish. Also as I was reading the play of Othello I felt so much suspense with the character of Ago because I didn’t know what his next plan was, and I felt the same way as I was watching Keenness’s performance and I felted even more because of his expressions and the way he talks were invaluable. And I didn’t feel that way as I was watching Finally performance which was quite disappointing. Finally way of acting may have impressed the audience back then, but now that there have been many adaptations of Othello, specially, first class performance of Kenneth, it may not impress the spectators today.
