Othello is a powerful general, revered by his soldiers and honored by his peers. But his strength cannot contain his jealousy and rage when he believes his beautiful wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful. As deception leads to tragedy, nobody is safe.
Award-winning author Julius Lester takes one of Shakespeare’s most intense plays and brings modern life to this saga of two doomed, passionate souls and a kingdom torn apart by secrets, lies, and violence.
I bought this book on a random day out with my mad titan best friend Angasa. We somehow, as always, ended up at a bookstore and when I picked it up, she told me to get it because it was one of Shakespeare’s best plays. She also told me Othello was a black man, which surprised me because I didn’t think William would be out here writing black men as protagonists.
This is obviously a retelling- done to make Shakespeare’s work a bit easier to read. Julius Lester does this well. He makes the tale of Othello very accessible and by that I mean, I’ve never been one to fully immerse myself in Shakespearean plays til now. After reading Romeo and Juliet for my form 4 literature class, I wholeheartedly thought this is enough. Speaking of readings I did way back in the asylum that was secondary school, I also stumbled an excerpt of Othello in May and Hill: a collection of selected works – from my form two literature class. I hardly remembered the story, but for years and years I found myself thinking of one of the lines I read from there which said “he loved her well but not too wisely.” I was actually surprised how many more beautiful quotes, especially about the intricacies of love, that this story had.
But a message was more than words. It was tone of voice, nuance of expression, the softness of the eyes, and where love was concerned, he thought now that words had nothing to do with the message at all.
– Julius Lester, Othello
If you look closely, the story deals with issues of racial dynamics but I won’t dwell on that part. What I will dwell on is the fact that this is indeed a tragic love story – but not between Othello and his white child bride Desdemona, but between him and his long time friend, comrade in arms and fellow negro, Iago. The real emotional core isn’t Desdemona and Othello’s romance but Othello’s blind devotion to Iago. Othello fears betrayal from his wife, but the actual backstabbery comes from the man he trusts most- his so-called “honest” best friend.
You would think given that they are the only two black men in an army and court full of white opps they’d have each other’s back. But nope, Iago chooses to secretly hate the man that took care of him cause…. reasons really. He plays on Othello’s insecurities, not just as a husband but as a friend, exploiting these bonds of Othello’s intense nature to destroy him. In the end, the tragedy is less about lost love and more about misplaced trust and the ultimate betrayal by your own kinsman. In other words, one sided friendships can literally kill you.
Love requires the unsolvable mystery of two unknowns calling for completion in the other.
– Julius Lester, Othello
I don’t have much to critique about this book funnily enough. My only problem with it is that I suffered from some sort of object impermanence when I was reading this. Beloved, there’s not much wrong with the story (if you look past actual child marriage), but every time I put it down I forgot it existed.
And that’s why even though this is a very short read with a big font and less than 200 pages, it took me four plus months to get through it. I wasn’t having a bad time. I wasn’t even bored. I just wasn’t compelled either. Ngasa says it’s because it was written way back when and that other stories similar to it have been told, hence it has lost its luster, which I guess is a fair point really.
A man is nothing but a stomach and a woman but food. They eat us greedily and when they are full, they belch us.
– Julius Lester, Othello
Despite what I’ve just said however, the way this story escalates after a certain point is absolutely insane. Othello goes from loving his wife to wanting to kill her in like less than 50 pages. All this is spurred by the complete maniac, Iago. What an absolute weasel. The number of people catching strays cause of this man’s actions? Unfathomable (4 people really. 5 if you include himself, but the cast is lean so that’s a lot). Towards the end, Desdemona literally asks, ” How did matters reach such a place as this?” And I was like, “girl, same.” All in all, decent book if you’re looking to understand the tale of Othello without wanting to read the actual play or the Wikipedia page. 3/5 stars.
In grief he was more alone than he has ever thought possible. No one had warned him that to love meant to risk an aloneness so deep and so vast that death would appear convivial.
– Julius Lester, Othello
