An Interview with Kent Thompson

  

         In the interview with Kent Thompson, the artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Thompson points out that casting of Othello is the central issue of the play, Othello.  He mentions that “many directors won’t produce the play unless they know in advance who’s going to perform Othello (pg. 239)” and the reason why Thompson particularly picked the play, Othello in 1994 is that he “had an actor who could convincingly portray Othello (pg. 239).”  I was surprised that who is playing Othello could matter so much to the point where directors hesitate to produce the play.  In my opinion, a casting of Iago is more significant than a casting of Othello even though Othello is the protagonist this is so because Iago is the character who talks and leads the play.  However, according to Thompson, the actor of Othello has to be able to portray an “extraordinary warrior-hero, yet clearly be an outsider (pg. 240).”  This is ironic because usually heroes have many supporters such as friends, around them.  On the other hand, loners have no one but themselves.  It would be really difficult to act as a hero and a loner at the same time.  The race of the actor playing Othello is also important.  When Kent was asked whether if “it is possible to cast a white actor in the role today”, he mentions that “it is not wise to do so at this moment in our social/cultural history unless you are prepared to do something wildly non-traditional throughout the production.”  This indicates that Kent or most people think that that Othello cannot be performed by white actors since the play always had been performed with African-American actor playing Othello.  By reading the interview, I now understand that the casting of Othello is central point to the play, Othello.

Othello

     In the play “Othello” written by William Shakespeare, the author illustrates the importance of persuasion.  He shows this theme by implanting a brilliant persuading ability in his villain character, Iago.  This ability is highlighted through the process of Iago’s planting the idea that Desdemona, Othello’s wife, is having an affair with Cassio in Othello’s mind in Act 3 Scene 3, the scene that clearly and persuasively represents a point of a view of a single character, Iago.  In lines 112-119, Iago pauses and repeats Othello’s words in an interrogative way to evoke Othello’s curiosity.  He also develops Othello’s curiosity by using this method three times; he waits patiently until Othello asks for Iago’s purpose of pausing, instead of Iago blurting his thoughts out.  Although Othello asks him to assert his thoughts, Iago says “my lord, you know I love you” to be compassionate, to convince that whatever Iago will say or do is for Othello’s own benefit, and to provoke more curiosity out of Othello, making his future words to be powerful (Othello, Act 3 Scene 3, 130).  Iago waits until Othello’s acknowledges Iago’s loyalty and Othello’s demand in stating Iago’s thoughts.  Instead of directly asserting his thoughts, Iago leads Othello to his thoughts.  He first brings the name of Michael Cassio in line 137 by asking Othello what he thinks about Cassio.  Then, he hesitantly agrees to Othello and indirectly persuades Othello to doubt his faith in Cassio by putting his words in 3^rd person, avoiding the name, Cassio.  By doing this Iago allows Othello to follow his idea by making him assert that “nay, yet there’s more in this [Cassio’s honesty]” (143), instead of directly asking Othello what to believe.  In fact, Iago lures Othello to demands in asking for Iago’s opinion to make it seem as if Othello sincerely desires to hear Iago’s words.  Othellos damnd for Iago’s words lucidly illustrates that Othello is already persuaded by Iago and is ready to believe anything Iago is to say.

Poetics

         In “SUPPLEMNTARY READING FROM THE Poetics”, Aristotle shows six elements of tragedy; plot, characters, verbal expression, thought, visual adornment, and song-composition.  Before the reading, I thought that characters are the most important element among the six that constitutes a tragedy since it rises from conflicts between the characters.  For example, Medea kills her two sons to get her revenge on Jason for abandoning and destroying her marriage.  I had believed that there is a conflict between Jason and Medea, and this conflict leads to the tragedy.  However, according to Aristotle, “a tragedy cannot exist without a plot, but it can without characters” (pg. 90).  I was shocked by the fact that character is not as important as the plot.  Thus, I was puzzled and confused while I was reading.  Yet, after finishing the reading, I start to understand Aristotle’s points.  It seems plot is bigger element than character because if there is no plot about Jason betraying Medea, then there would not be any tragedy in the play.  I realized that plot is the structure that leads the whole story while character follows after the plot.  Moreover, Aristotle mentions that “plot is the basic principle of tragedy” because “plot is the goal of tragedy, and the goal is the greatest thing of all” (pg. 90).  The goal of Medea is to get revenge on Jason, and as soon as she achieved her revenge, the play becomes a tragedy.  Now I am certain that plot is the most important element in a tragedy since plot comes before the character.

Medea

In Euripides’s play “Medea”, Creon, the king of Corinth is the most foolish character in the whole story.  Although he is one of the minor characters, plays the most important role by pulling the trigger of events that lead to tragedy.  The first unfortunate event is that when Creon lets his daughter, Glauce marry Jason who is already a husband of Medea and a father of her two sons.  It puzzles me how a king of a country could let this happen in the land where everyone’s eyes are towards him.  I do not know what effect this outcome would have brought in Euripides’s time, but in the world I live now, it would not only be disgraceful, but also be disgusting since a man abandons his family to marry another woman who may provide him power.  If I were the king, I would have forbidden my daughter to see him.  The second event that Creon made a mistake is not banishing Medea right away from his country.  This is the biggest, stupidest mistake he makes since he heard about her vicious cleverness and he knows that he will be regretting this.  This foolish action gives Medea an opportunity to prepare her revenge, and from her revenge, Creon suffers and dies, which is a tragedy.  Every one of his decision leads to a step closer to his tragedy, which could have been prevented if he changed his decisions.  If Creon were wiser, he could have saved his daughter and himself in the play.