In the Interim...

As some of you may know, I’m reading Twilight right now. As some of you may also know, Twilight might be an easy read, but it isn’t a short read. There is something like 500 pages in the book! Trying to read through the book in a week was going to be crazy with school and other things, so I decided I’d give myself two weeks to read it. But, that obviously leaves a week with no book unless I read a short book in the interim. Enter Graphic Shakespeare Othello from Graphic Planet to the rescue! This graphic novel was adapted by Vincent Goodwin and illustrated by Chris Allen. There are many graphic novel adaptations of classic literary works, so I figured I would read an adaptation of a play that I admired.

Othello is one of Shakespeare’s most respected tragedies. Desdemona is a beautiful young woman who marries a decorated general named Othello. Seems that there wouldn’t be a problem until we find that Othello is a Moor, a man from Northern Africa, who has darker skin. Even though her father objects to the marriage, Desdemona loves Othello and will not leave his side. Enter Iago, a soldier who was just passed up for a promotion under Othello. Fueled by jealousy of Othello, Iago wants to ruin him, and he knows no better way of doing that then turning Othello against his wife. Through a terrible and ingenious plot, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is sleeping with one of Othello’s lieutenants. The outcomes of that plot bring this play to a tragic end.

The play itself is a powerful tale of what can happen when jealousy and envy get the better of us. It also shows that once we are viewing a situation from a certain angle, it is very difficult to change our perspective. Although I enjoy graphic novels, I don’t know if I enjoyed this particular one. After reading the play, Othello, you are filled with rage and loathing for Iago, and pity and anger toward Othello. Although the basic plot mechanisms and actions were portrayed in the graphic novel, it didn’t have anywhere near the feel and emotional catharsis of the tragedy. This might have something to do with the brief nature of the graphic novel; it compressed the dialogue into fifty pages of graphic novel. In addition, even though the characters were expertly illustrated, they didn’t line up with how I had imagined the characters in my mind.

But, having said all of that, there is some good coming from this graphic novel. Just before I headed off to work, my teen-aged brothers were flipping through the pages. If the play, Othello, was sitting on the couch, they probably wouldn’t have picked it up; but because it was a graphic novel, they couldn’t help but glance at it and get a feel for the story. Yesterday at the library I noticed another similar situation. A new graphic novel version of Frankenstein was one of our display books in the juvenile literature. A young guy couldn’t resist the artwork and began to read it. Even though I don’t think the graphic novel lived up to the play, it might get some readers interested in the story, and might make Shakespeare a little closer to the rest of us.