Brian Sheehy
Shakespeare on Film
10/10/16
Film Essay
“The Doppleganger Accused: An analysis of the final scene in Oliver Parker’s Othello”
Oliver Parker’s 1995 Othello is one of the more faithful adaptations of Shakespeare’s
source material. Unlike Tim Blake Nelson’s O, or Orson Welles’s 1952 adaptation, Parker’s take
on the story featured clothing, setting, dialogue, and plot quite similar to that of Shakespeare’s
original play. Parker developed a far more realistic take on the story, as evidenced by the
performances of his actors. While certain obvious themes such as race, jealousy,
misunderstanding, and manipulation are seen throughout the film, in the last twenty or so
minutes of the work, in which the major conflicts of the story are resolved (albeit, not without a
