Perhaps you’ve seen this image floating about on the Interwebs:
Of course it’s hilarious if you’ve ever read The Lord of the Rings, but it’s also fairly instructive at reinforcing some simple poetry analysis. Let’s take a look:
STRUCTURE: Divisions within a poem, like stanzas, present ideas in smaller chunks to consider. The clearest division in this poem obviously occurs between the first two lines and the four that follow. The division is signaled not only by the line break, but also by the switch to all caps.
DICTION, IMAGERY, and PERSONIFICATION: Note the difference between the verbs “stop,” “go,” and “wait” in the first two lines and “kneel” and “stares” in the final four, which add to the sense of foreboding. In a like manner, the personification of the normal and friendly red, green, and “twinkling” yellow lights shifts to the “demon light” of the final four lines, its “eye of coal” a dark and unsettling presence in the driver’s world. Not only does it exist, but the “demon light” “knows your license plate,” suggesting that perhaps you might slow down a bit and stop throwing trash out the window when you think no one’s looking.
METER: The repetitive pattern of the first two lines stresses the initial verbs to give them emphasis, followed by an almost sing-song rhythm of explanation ending in the throwaway rhyme and thin “ee” vowel sound of “green” and “between.” After the shift, the metrical pattern changes. Although “kneel” receives the same initial emphasis, the following line contains a different pattern, with stress falling on the “de” in “demon,” “eye,” and “coal.” The lighter rhythm of the first two lines is supplanted by harsher words and harder accents. The new pattern’s stresses lean harder on the words “coal” and “soul,” adding to the negative tone of the second part of the poem.
ALLUSION: Anyone who’s read The Lord of the Rings or seen the films is familiar with Sauron, who forged the One Ring of Power during the Second Age to rule the rings he created for the kings of men, elves, and dwarves. Sauron’s blazing eye is the key disembodied antagonist threatening Frodo and the Fellowship and their mission to destroy the One Ring in Mount Doom and free Middle Earth. Alluding to Sauron reinforces the idea that the “demon light” not only knows your license plate, but ideas about yourself and the secrets you’re hiding.
Quite a lot for such a little poem, but there’s always more to think about in a poem if you’re willing to look closely.
Perhaps the best-known Othello in the United States is the renowned actor Paul Robeson. The son of an escaped slave, Robeson had built an international reputation not only from his role in the musical Show Boat, but as an athlete and an attorney. Robeson had a commanding physical presence that suited the role perfectly, but his casting against the young British actress Peggy Ashcroft in 1930 was not without controversy. Technical issues like poor staging and difficult acoustics made performing difficult. But no one argued with the power of Robeson’s performance. Ivor Brown, the critic for The Observer, described Robeson as “… an oak…a superb giant of the woods for the great hurricane of tragedy to whisper through, then rage upon, then break.” Audiences at the premiere gave Robeson twenty curtain calls. But, given the societal segregation of the time, Robeson had detractors as well who criticized everything from his interpretation of the role to how he pronounced the words of Shakespeare’s text. Samantha Ellis writes:
Despite the positive reception of an African-American actor in the role, the Oscar-nominated 1965 production (the highest number for a Shakespeare film in history) starring Sir Laurence Olivier and a very young Dame Maggie Smith as Desdemona reverted to type: The famous English actor played the role in makeup. This was the first cinematic Othello to be shot using color film, and Oliver was as meticulous about that as he was about developing the physical character through a deep voice and a special walk. He stated in an interview with Life magazine in 1964 that, “
Perhaps the pushback against the Olivier production opened the door for the now generally-accepted casting of an African-American actor in the role. Famous Othellos of the last several decades include theater luminaries like James Earl Jones, Oscar-nominated actor Laurence Fishburne in a stellar 1995 production starring Kenneth Branagh as Iago and French actress Irene Jacob as Desdemona, and young actor Mekhi Phifer in “O,” a contemporary version that transforms the military conflict into a basketball rivalry set in a high school. Other famous actors who have played Othello include Orson Welles, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Eamonn Walker in a 2001 TV movie co-starring Christopher Eccleston (best known as the ninth Doctor Who) as Iago, which transplants the action from Venice and Cyprus to a London police station.
Speaking of foreign: A German production at the Deutsches Theatre in 2001 pushed the boundaries of the character by not only casting a white actor as Othello, but a female one. This more avant-garde production starring actress Susanne Wolff sees Wolff utter her lines in varying costumes progressing from a simple black-and-white shirt and pants ensemble to—believe it or not—a gorilla suit intended to show Othello’s shift from loving partner to a more animalistic creature bent on vengeance. Blogger/reviewer Andrew Haydon says about the production, “Okay, there are two headlines to choose from here: 1) I’ve just seen the best production of Othello I’ve ever seen. 2) I’ve just seen a production of Othello in which Othello is played by a white woman in a gorilla costume. My job, then, is to explain how (2) manages to be (1).”
Thug Notes: Othello
Sex, booze, lies, and revenge–just another day on Cyprus! Salty language and adult themes ahead. Proceed with caution.
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Tagged as analysis, commentary, drama, Othello, Shakespeare