Blog #210: Shakespeare and Neurodiversity: “Othello”

In society, many unions can either come from either the same background or from different backgrounds. Once again, Shakespeare comes through with this message in the form of one of his top tragedies, “Othello.”

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What I mean by different backgrounds is that when it comes to friendships and relationships, it doesn’t matter who or what makes up that friendship or relationship. The one thing that is the same is love and commitment from both parties, but if there is one thing that all unions fall into is controversy and jealousy from outside sources.

Like a lot of feelings, Neurodiverse individuals struggle with jealousy and here, the jealousy is represented by the character of Iago, who despises Othello and will do anything to destroy him out of spite.

Unfortunately, we see a lot of this in our society and neurodiverse/disabled individuals cannot hold in ill feelings as well as others. Sometimes, we can’t even come to grips with the fact that something we don’t want to see happening is happening.

If you recall back in Blog 195, I discussed about having “Rhino Skin” and willing to take blows when we face rejection or jealousy/envy. Iago clearly also represents what happens when we don’t have that aforementioned “Rhino Skin” in our bodies.

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If “Othello” can teach us another thing about jealousy is that jealousy can take many forms and little, do we realize that jealousy can evolve in more ways than one. What’s more is that when infidelity is thrown into the mixture, it can become a lethal combination. This is true when Iago takes advantage of Desdemona’s infidelity and uses it against Othello.

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In a way, “Othello” is like that lethal combination of jealousy, infidelity and even race that I think can teach general and special education students the importance of what happens when our emotions get the better of us. As the play progresses, we even start to see “Othello” himself feel his emotions getting the better of him, too.

Clearly, Othello loves Desdemona, however he deals with that inner turmoil that he is being cheated on and if he cannot have her, then she cannot have life and this ultimately leads to Othello doing himself in.

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Like all the plays I have covered, Shakespeare’s “Othello” is something that can hold true for both general and special education students. If you are looking for a visual representation of Shakespeare’s “Othello,” there is either the BBC Animated Shakespeare series or the 1995 film version of “Othello” starring Laurence Fishburne and even though it cuts out some of the scenes, its still hits the message home.

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Catch you all later!!

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