Othello and the Drama of Basic Cable: A Lesson Plan

Preface:

Playwrights and journalists tell stories; reality is for the courts to decide. The question of OJ’s guilt or innocence will be tested by various technical procedures specific to the criminal justice system. But, in the end, what happens in the courtroom depends on which story is believed. The prosecution will tell one story; the defence will tell another. The courtroom is a theatre. That is why people want to televise real trials, and why so many dramas, from Greek tragedy to Hollywood, are about trials. That is why recent advocates of `critical legal theory’ have become so interested in literary theory, and why literary critics have started

studying legal history. Justice is what happens at the end of the story. All justice is poetic justice. How do we decide which story will be believed? Juries and lawyers and journalists and all the rest of us evaluate

the story of OJ Simpson by the criteria which we have learned from other stories. Whether they know it or not–and most of them do not know it–everyone who comments on the Simpson case is a literary critic.

—Gary Taylor, “The Greatest Lie Ever Told: Did Shakespeare Glorify Wife Murder?”

The critical methodology of this lesson–performance, cultural studies, and digital humanities–allows students to view the play through a trinity of methodologies as well as from the point of view of their assigned character, and simultaneously in the role of director, publisher, editor and writer. The aims/expectations of using this plan are that students will develop a sense of the complication that goes into producing this play that is brief, mixes tragedy and comedy for sensationalistic/overdramatic tones–tragedy as entertainment. Integrating performance, cultural studies, and digital humanities methodologies helps students to pour what they learn–the insights they gain on Shakespeare’s and our culture in interpreting, planning, staging, costuming, inflecting, and performing the lines of a scene or scenes in Othello–onto the platform of a modern, made-for-TV (YouTube) or radio (podcast) drama which can be distributed amongst the class (minimally) and used to study/interact in the nascent realm of digital humanities. Tailoring Shakespeare to the digital age–integrating Othello (and Othello the character) into YouTube and podcast culture will yield unique insights in ways just not possible from simply reading the plays. Students move from passive consumers of the plays–and of contemporary gossip culture–to informed producers, working as a team to interpret and contribute to the conversation through creative, digital means and reflection which can be placed on a digital humanities blog and referred back to, commented on as a class, throughout the semester, should the instructor desire to go that route.

“Othello (Syndrome) and the Drama of Basic Cable” is ideal for introductory to mid-level Shakespeare level because it allows students to operate creatively in groups to perform, draw connections between/amongst disparate cultures/time periods of Renaissance England and today, and to see that drama is still sensational and plays on our not-so-high human tendencies, which Iago exploits. Shakespeare thought about the ethics of his role as a playwright in his comedies and tragedies, and this tragedy–with one of the most despicable characterizations of evil, one that invites us into the twisted mind of evil through so many lines–aligns the playwright not with Prospero’s benign controlling, directorial behavior of The Tempest, but with Iago and his spinning of tales to manipulate/exploit the worst in human nature–resulting in jealousy,  murder, and suicide. Inviting students to walk a mile in the Bard’s and his characters’ and coworkers’ shoes will result in new insights into the play through an intimate crafting and translation of it into digital, social media. Perhaps it is ridiculous, but so is Othello’s plot’s hanging on a handkerchief. Inviting the comparison of what Shakespeare is doing to the crazy antics of the Maury Povich and Judge Judy type TV (scripted) dramas as well as the drama on podcasts and radio shows that “play” into the worst in human nature–shows that Iago’s methods for his own pure entertainment are shamefully intertwined within our own human nature, the part that is entertained by other people’s suffering. Shakespeare exhibited keen self awareness in working through his role in society in this play and many others–by the end of the career, The Tempest exhibits a kinder, if still problematic, self portrait (it’s not hard for Prospero to be less evil than Iago, though).

Teaching of Othello, of course, necessarily involves the theme of racism and race, tangled up in the battle between dark and light–Iago and Desdemona, devil and angel, jealousy and faith, self- and other-loathing and love, irrationality and rationality, confusion and order–etc. Much like the play is about race and so much more, so too is this lesson plan. It seeks to integrate race and racism themes into the same holistic picture that Shakespeare achieved in this play that has had such an impact on our society that it is (1) synonymous with race in the forefront of people’s minds and (2) that it has permeated our culture so much so that it was invoked during the O.J. Simpson trial–a made for TV drama in itself that captivated the race-obsessed society. Much like racism itself, the comparisons are surface (skin) level and aside from both trials’ hanging on a flimsy object–a handkerchief and a glove–whose meaning was exploited by defense attorneys Iago and Chris Darden. Reading the inflammatory 1997 Guardian article Did Shakespeare Glorify Wife Murder? (in which not only is the answer yes, but also “Whoever held the knife, Shakespeare helped murder Nicole Simpson”) will provide an excellent discussion opportunity for students. This is a launching-off point sure to inspire passionate dialogue on cultural implications of plays and theatrics in the modern courtroom (and on the pages of the Guardian), useful for integrating the sensationalist theme of race and multi-racial marriages into their plays–and explaining those choices. It is apparent that Shakespeare’s play and modern TV judge and “let’s get to the bottom of this” (who’s the daddy?) dramas, while on different stages (or platforms) nonetheless point to–for the profit of the producers, writers, actors and team that promotes them–humans’ temptation to: see the worst in others; dig for dirt; see-saw between devil and angel, jealousy and faith, self- and other-loathing and love, irrationality and rationality, confusion and order. If Iago is Shakespeare, then theatre-goers and modern-day drama consumers are Othello, giving in to the temptation to listen to evil instead of having faith.

Materials Required: A video camera or voice recorder (this can be on a smartphone, tablet or laptop computer); space on a course LMS or file-sharing system to upload videos to a class vlog/podcast area.

References:

• On jealousy: Othello Syndrome Wiki, Love and Faith in Othello, Jealousy Hermeneutics in Othello
• On seduction/temptation/delusion: Iago and the Arts of Satan, Seduction and Damnation in Othello
• On sensationalism/drama: Did Shakespeare Glorify Wife Murder?
• On avoiding offensiveness in their productions: “Proper” English, Racist Blackface Dialect, and the Contest for Representing ‘Blackness’

Overall goal/objective/theme: Students will use critical scholarship in the field to begin to think about jealousy, seduction/temptation, delusion, damnation, sensationalism and how to (responsibly) depict the sensational and drama of this play while attuning to the typical concerns a director, producer, editor and actor would take on in an Othello dramatization for audio or visual (online) audiences. They will practice critiquing/reviewing each other’s productions, and receiving criticism from their peers just as a TV or podcast serial drama might.

Methodology: performance, cultural studies, digital humanities

What experience/knowledge do students already have? What is my strategy to accommodate all levels? (Audience): This activity is designed for mid-level Shakespeare students, who may or may not be English majors.