Intercultural Othello, An Analysis of Race in William Shakespeare’s Othello, Tim Nelson’s O and Osada & Appignanesi’s Manga Shakespeare.

Abstract

This thesis focusses on the cultural influence within Shakespeare adaptations across different cultures worldwide. It does so through a comparative analysis of race in Shakespeare’s Othello, Nelson’s O and Osada & Appignanesi’s Manga Shakespeare. Relative to Shakespeare’s original, Nelson’s O significantly emphasizes the themes of race and violence in Othello in order to emphasize specific social problems alive in the United States today. Through various choices of omitting and adding textual and visual elements, the Manga Shakespeare offers a rendering of Othello in which race does not have to be the nucleus. The comparison of Shakespeare’s original Othello to Nelson’s O and Osada and Appignanesi’s Manga Shakespeare displays the influence of culture in the appropriation process of modern Shakespeare appropriations. Vice versa, it displays what modern Shakespeare appropriations can tell us about the culture or society from which they originate.