The film Revolutionary Road and the play Othello both exhibit conflicting marriages.

Authors Avatar

Conflict Essay

The Shakespearean play, “Othello”, set in the 1600’s, presents a conflicting marriage. It shows a gainsaying marital relationship between Othello, the moor whom is a militant soldier and Desdemona, shatter from the destructive force of man’s jealousy motivated by affection and dislocation, which propels Othello towards tragedy. Similarly, the 2008 dramatic film, “Revolutionary Road”, directed by Sam Mendes, set in the 1950’s, also presents a conflicting marriage. Though, the marital relationship between April and Frank is one which is set by others as special and destined, which makes April feel that their relationship is unfulfilled because she believes they are superior of others, causing inner and emotional chaos within April and a tragic ending to their relationship.

Othello is a racial and cultural outsider in Venice. His tragedy comes about because he can never be anything except an outsider. Othello’s marriage to Desdemona is not accepted by Brabantio (Desdemona’s father) and others, which is conveyed metaphorically when Brabantio refers to the racial slur “sooty bosom” when speaking to Othello; and Roderigo refers to the racial slur, “the Thick-lips” when speaking of Othello. We may feel that the black hero is dislocated because he marries a white woman and is in a weak position as black man serving a white patriarchy. Iago secretly hates Othello, which is expressed metaphorically with animal imagery, as he calls him a “Barbary horse”, and an “old black ram”. Othello stresses that Desdemona chose to marry him, when he says, “she had eyes and chose me”, despite the significant difference in age and colour, and the social, cultural and racial differences. Othello and Desdemona love each other harmoniously because of the differences they perceived in each other. These differences then become distorted during the course of the play by a heinous, manipulative interloper, Iago, a man who cannot bear to see Othello happy with Desdemona and so plans to destroy him, as he says, “Oh, you are well tuned now, but I’ll set down the pegs that make this music”, when he sees the two reunite and kiss. Othello’s status as an outsider is the reason he is such an easy prey for narcissistic Iago. Iago’s motivations for his future actions are inadequate, as Coleridge describes Iago’s actions as, “motiveless malignity”.

Join now!

The film, “Revolutionary road”, similarly presents a conflicting marriage, though there is no real conflict with society in their marriage as there was in Othello’s. The greater conflict is ideological. This conflict is revealed when April speaking to Frank and says, “It’s unrealistic for a man with a fine mind to go on working year after year at e job he can’t stand, coming home to a place he can’t stand, to a wife who is equally unable to stand the same things.”  This conflict is summed up by Frank’s reply to John’s question asking Frank and April, the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay