Michael's Exhibit

William Shakespeare’s Othello offers a variety of areas for comparison to other historical works, primarily those that deliver an analysis of the central themes within the Elizabethan play. The original Othello by Shakespeare is centered around the role of greed and jealousy in causing actions by several of its characters that ultimately lead to the tragic end of the play. The purpose of this exhibit is to observe what aspects of Othello can be compared to certain hand-picked pieces of historical literature in regards to the numerous themes and conflicts that formed the play’s overall story. Several specific characters from the original play are also discussed within the exhibit, with each individual character having either their physical attributes or their effect on the plot compared to the development of another text.

Each historical text as part of the overall exhibit differs from the other in its subject and context, though they all collectively connect to various depictions of the play. Items within the exhibit are presented as influential works, often created at a time when they were viewed by many in the world as evolutionary in their genre. The exhibit itself aims to speak upon the original play’s efforts to deliver the message of a tragedy, whether by reflecting on such efforts or rejecting its motives. The ultimate goal here is to provide audiences well experienced in the art of Shakespeare with multiple depictions of the Elizabethan version that gear towards their own direction in interpreting specificities of early modern Othello.