Aos Conflict Speech Assessment Task One

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Othello,a play written by William Shakespeare, portrays the protagonist, Othello to bea man of great nobility who has little participation in the conflictsurrounding him from act 1 scene 1 through to his own demise, however thediscrepancies thrive on his flaws of naivety and credulity. Othello has nopersonal or aware participation in much of the conflict of the play yet itsurvives beyond its time. Inthe Green Mile, however, a film released in 1999 following the lives of fiveguards on death row directed by Frank Darabont, prison guard Percy Wetmorecreates a hostile

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relationshipwith inmates and the other guards because of his arrogance towards them. Had Percynot been of such a sadistic nature and thought of his actions, many of theconflicts he created and endured could have been avoided. “Conflict cannot survive without yourparticipation” Wayne Dyer. I do not disagree with Dyer but I believe hisstatement is rather broad and exclusive of the various types of conflict andsituational circumstances. Inboth Othello and The Green Mile we see various man verses man conflict as wellas inner conflict.

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Intheory, it can be assumed that both variants of conflict within these twoliterary pieces would not have sustained a life had the characters notparticipated. Whilst this is partially true for the instigators of conflictsuch as Percy Wetmore and William Wharton of The Green Mile and Iago ofOthello, it is not necessarily true for the victims. Inact one scene one of Othello, Iago says, “O, sir content you/ I follow him toserve my turn upon him” foreshadowing the naivety and over trusting persona ofOthello which lands him in such immense man verses man conflict unaware to

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tohim. Iago’s master plan to trick Othello into a false friendship is alsoforeshown here setting the scene for the play. Not long after, Iago begins toput his plan into action further developing his hatred. Iago really begins tostir up trouble screaming to Brabantio, “An old black ram is tupping your whiteewe” degrading his daughter and revealing her secret love. By reducing Othelloto the status of a ram it enforces the low respect for Othello before theaudience has even met him.

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Thispowerful symbolism works well as the ram is positioned at the bottom of theGreat Chain of Being, the hierarchical system in place at the time of the play.The animalistic imagery also enforces the bad taste in which the relationshipstands and creates a potently vivid and unpleasant image. The referring to theram and ewe also suggests Desdemona is much too sweet and gentle for such aman. The racial language is used to push the notion of black being impure anddirty and white being the opposite as well as highlighting how unacceptableDesdemona and Othello’s love is.

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Theuse of impolite terms such as ‘tupping’ in conjunction with the metaphor of theanimals shows the audience the versatility of Iago. This use of lower class anduneducated language mixed with the use of a metaphor, which may seem sophisticatedshows Iago’s ability to manipulate the other characters through his words andsubtly foreshadows his multi-persona soon to be revealed. This scene causesgreater conflict for Othello and Desdemona than for those characters physicallyin the scene

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When approached rather barbarically by Brabantio, Othello’s calm nature getshim no further out of the conflict. Othello does not participate, he does notchoose to dispute with Brabantio yet the incompatibility between the twolingers. This here, creates the first barrier for Wayne Dyer’s quote. Shakespearerepeatedly uses dramatic irony to create a stronger connection between theaudience and characters. For example Iago tells Othello, “Men should be whatthey seem”.

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Theaudience is immediately aware of the hypocrisy behind Iago’s words and whenOthello agrees with him it is reinforced just how unaware he is of the conflictaround him and that Iago is the puppeteer of the actions he will immediatelyregret later on. These words of Iago also play on Othello’s flaw to take thingsas they seem with little further questioning. Again, Othello is not even awareof the conflict between him and Iago. He is has no idea Iago’s thoughts of himnor his actions which Othello would not agree with or stand for had he known.

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Dissimilarly,in The Green Mile, Percy Wetmore as a result of his cocky traits and hisattitude of being above the law creates his incongruence with the prisoners andguards on death row distinctively for inmate Eduard Delacroix. When Percy isbeing trained on how to perform an execution he asks Van Hay, “Why he puttingthe sponge on his head like that? And Van Hay replies, “Conducts electricity tothe brain fast like a bullet. Youdon’t ever throw the switch on a man without that’

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Thisforeshadows Percy’s actions when executing Eduard Delacroix. Percy’s hate forDelacroix and the on going conflict Percy creates with him doesn’t stop at hisdeath. Percy, although knowing the purpose of the wet sponge, does not use itwhen executing Delacroix. He allows Delacroix to burn slowly whilst tauntinghim calling him a ‘faggot’. The tone of Percy’s voice through out the entireexecution is sadistic and cruel and in no way empathetic. This conflict wasunnecessary and could never have survived without Percy’s participation.

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Anotherexample of man verses man conflict in The Green Mile is that of William Whartonand John Coffey. John Coffey, in his meekness, says to Wharton, ‘You’re a badman’ in which he replies ‘That’s right nigga, as bad as you want’. This is apivotal moment in the film where John Coffey’s gift, unbeknownst to theaudience, allows him to see the wrong doings of Wharton setting him up for anearlier death than expected. The racial connotation and use of the word ‘nigga’shows the little respect Wharton has and shows his self-involvement with theconflict.

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To conclude, in both Othelloand The Green Mile, the notion of “conflict cannot survive with out yourparticipation” is somewhat reflected. The quote is rather broad disregardingthe smaller details of conflict and the various types. Othello does not involvehimself with the conflict; Iago creates it for him without his knowledge. Percyand Wharton’s involvement but not that of Coffey’s or Delacroix fuel PercyWetmore and William Wharton’s conflicts with John Coffey and Eduard Delacroix.