317 - Othello, United States, 1951. Dir. Orson Welles.
Peace, and be still.
So says Othello to his wife Desdemona as she lies upon their bed.
Unfortunately, his words do not convey quite the same meaning as when Jesus spoke them to the raging storm.
Nor do his intentions.
No, he means, and intends, a different kind of peace. And a different kind of stillness.
Not comfort.
But death.
He is telling her to stop speaking. She is appealing to him. Confused. She does not know why he wishes to kill her.
She is true to him.
And he has always been true to her.
Until now.
Because he believes she has been untrue to him.
One can see that he still loves her. He even says so later.
Nay, had she been true, if heaven would make me such another world of one entire and perfect chrysolite, I'd not have sold her for it.
V.ii.155-158
Othello does precisely the opposite. He too feels compelled to kill his wife Desdemona as an act of justice. Because he has been manipulated by the luciferian Iago to believe she has been untrue to him, along with his most trusted man Cassio. But he wants to confirm, to assure beyond any doubt, that she will go to Heaven.
His heart is broken. His sense of justice offended. He is caught up in hubris--believing it to be his personal duty to exact both divine and legal justice on a living soul.
But he still loves her. And he wants her to go to Heaven.
He asks if she has prayed tonight. She says Yes. He adjures for her to repent of any outstanding sins, and to be quick, before he takes her.
Have you prayed tonight, Desdemona?
Ay, my lord.
If you bethink yourself of any crime unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace, solicit for it straight.
Alas, my lord, what may you mean by that?
Well, do it, and be brief. I would not kill thy unprepared spirit. No, heaven forfend. I would not kill thy soul.
Talk you of killing?
Ay, I do
Then Heaven have mercy upon me.
Amen with all my heart.
If you say so. I hope you will not kill me.
Peace, and be still.
V.ii.26-39, 51
He puts his hand over her mouth.
It is too late.
V.ii.95
Before that he has meditated on a candle, comparing the two kinds of light.
Put out the light (candle), and then put out the light (her life).
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister (candle),
I can again thy former light restore, should I repent me.
But once put out thy light (her life), thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat that can thy former light relume.
When I have plucked the rose I cannot give it vital growth again.
V.ii.7-14
How did it come to this?
Othello was the most noble soldier in Italy. He came to Venice as a representative of the Moors and has become the general of the Venetian army. He won Desdemona's heart with his story and finally won her begrudging father, a statesman in the Venetian senate. He is now serving in Cyprus with her by his side. He trusts his right-hand man Michael Cassio and makes him his Lieutenant.
Othello and Desdemona are good for each other. They are both pure, honest, and true.
Until Iago plants his seeds of treachery.
And Othello believes them.
And they grow and bear the tragic fruit of jealousy.
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leaped into my seat. The thought whereof
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards,
And nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am evened with him, wife for wife.
II.i.220-224
Othello has not been with Emilia. Othello has been just as faithful to Desdemona as Desdemona has been to him.
But Othello is gullible. He believes in people's goodness because he himself is good.
Iago plans to use this weakness to his own advantage.
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by th' nose
As asses are.
I.iii.442-445.
When Othello states his love for Desdemona, as quoted above, he does so to Iago's wife Emilia herself.
Nay, had she been true, if heaven would make me such another world of one entire and perfect chrysolite, I'd not have sold her for it.
V.ii.155-158
And then he expresses to Emilia his trust of Iago.
An honest man he is, and hates the slime that sticks on filthy deeds.
V.ii.160-161
Othello's judgment is off. He has everything exactly backwards. He believes the faithful are unfaithful and the unfaithful faithful. He acts from a sense of integrity and justice but with all the evidence turned upside down against him.
If only Desdemona had not dropped her handkerchief.
If only Emilia had not picked it up.
If only Emilia had not given it to her husband.
If you receive a handkerchief for Christmas this year, well, you may want to give it back.
She was chaste.
She loved thee.
V.ii.264
Once Emilia understands what has happened, she takes over and demands justice of everyone. She speaks the truth fearlessly. She has already confided in Desdemona in Act IV her desire for feminine equality. Now she rages like The Wife of Bath joined with righteous indignation.
Fay Compton plays Emilia in a mighty scene. Actresses who look at performing Desdemona may also want to consider the role of Emilia.
Orson Welles shows his genius in this production.
Much has been written about his difficulties in making the movie and how he overcame them. However, it is good to watch the movie unencumbered by all that backstory. It pieces together well and showcases the beauty of his superior artistic talent. He frames shots with daring. He revels in expressionistic sets and lighting, with deep darks and true blacks. And he gets good performances, sometimes by cutting to nuanced moments, sometimes through highly dramatic staging. Iago stirs up Othello's rage with his own back to the edge of a cliff as Othello presses into him.
The music feels as though influenced by The Third Man, which Welles had worked on a couple years earlier, partly to help raise money for this one.
One wishes that history had been different for Orson Welles, that some producer could have stepped in early in his career and provided him the funding to work on his projects with the autonomy he seemed to require. Charlie Chaplin had worked independently years before him. Woody Allen would work independently years after. So if Orson Welles, who may have been the greatest of America's filmmakers, could not thrive in the system that nurtured John Ford or John Huston, could he not have worked under some other arrangement where he could flourish as an artist without always having to hustle for funding?
And yet, despite all the difficulty he faced in his career, consider the output he was able to achieve, and the still-being-discovered body of work he has left behind.
Perhaps he is speaking of his own work when he says these words:
Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well.
V.ii.360-361
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