Othello and Troy are the two main characters in their situational plays. Othello is from “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” by William Shakespeare and Troy from “Fences,” by August Wilson. Both men come from two completely time periods but manage to have a lot in common. Othello is a young, dark man from Venice who has recently in the play gotten married to his delicate beloved wife, Desdemona. He is described as a relaxed man but as a soldier he is bold. Unlike Troy, who lives in a small house with a picket fence in the back of an alley way. He has two children, Corey and Lyons, with his wife Rose. Troy has been shaped in this play due to the fact of racism and the society's views on things, but he might come off harsh but its only because he will and is doing anything in his power to keep his family safe. These characters are still viewed to this day because they have grown up on two different sides of the spectrum, one being poor and the other growing up being a warrior. Othello and Troy both wanted to see and have their lives in a different way but had a major downfall in the end.
Othello’s motivation is ambition, his ambition is to win Desdemona over. “So please your grace, my ancient; a man he is of honestly and trust, To his conveyance I assign my wife, With what else needful your good grace shall think, To be sent after me.” Othello Tell the Duke he will do anything in his power to win over Brabantio’s word in the marriage.Troy faces similar circumstances, but his ambition was finding his happiness again. He is unhappy with his job because he wants to know the reason why he must pick up the trash and why he isn't able to drive the truck. This is caused to the fact of racial discrimination. “You think only white fellows got sense enough to drive a truck. That aint no paper job! Hell, anybody can drive a truck. How come you got all whites driving and the colored lifting?” This shows how unhappy he is with his job, but he just wants to understand it and not complain. Towards the end of the play Troy decides to have an affair with the waitress down the street from him, thinking this might make him happier in life.
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Another similarity between these two men is their lack of trust and emotional commitment to their wives although both women have proved their love to their husbands' multiple times. Othello was not able to see the rumors of his wife “cheating” and how she proved it to him was by leaving her father's house to marry him. In that time period disobeying your father may have gotten you executed. Iago stated “O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock, The meat it feeds on.” Lago tells Othello not to be a jealous man and saying how this can damage a marriage. Iago is doing everything in his power to manipulate Othello by using his own emotions against him. “Think’st thou I'd make a life of jealousy. To follow still the changes of the moon with fresh suspicions. No. To be once in doubt.” Othello speaks on how jealousy won’t get the best of him and backs up his own claims with their relationship by saying he choose him, despite him being black. While stating all of this he slips up and states that he may have jealousy with Desdemona. With Troy, Rose figures out Troy is cheating with another woman, but she has proved her love through sheer years but staying with him through it. “I’m talking, women, let me talk. I'm trying to find a way to tell you... I’m gonna be a daddy. I’m gonna be someone's daddy.” With his betrayal she still manages to be with him and help him with the baby. “I'll take care of your baby for you... caus... she innocent... and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child.” For Rose to help raise her husband kid shows the amount of love she has for him.
Throughout these plays blindness has been shown on both characters parts. Othello has been blind to see that Iago has been lying to him this entire time and has put tension between him and Desdemona. Iago wants to seek evil on Othello because Iago was over looked to be the Moor of Venice and Othello got picked instead. “What tell’st thou me of robbing? This is Venice; My house is not a grange.” A big scene gets caused when Othello and Desdemona go off to get married and Iago decides to tell Brabantio, Desdemona's father, that she has been “stolen.” Iago is trying the most to get Othello to trust him so that he can tell him anything and Othello will believe him. Othello believes his honorable military services will out weight the wronging's of Brabantio's daughter so he will still be able to be married with her. “Though in the trade of war I have slain men, Yet do I hold it very stuff o’ th; conscience To do no contrived murther. I lack iniquity.” Lago tells Othello that he wanted to stab Roderigo once he heard Roderigo was talking about Othello behind his back. This shows how Iago was trying to manipulate Othello and how blind he has been. Throughout the play Othello became to blind to see and understand the truth because he is so infatuated with Desdemona. In Troy’s case he was blind to see that Rose knew that he has not been happy for a while now. “Woman... I do the best I can do, I come in here every Friday. I carry a sack of potatoes and a bucket of lard. You all line up at you my sweat and my blood.” You can clearly see that Troy is getting fed up. This shows that he isn’t the happiest he has been since he has been on edge. “Rose, I done tried all my life to live decent... To live a clean... hard... useful life. I tried all my life to be a good husband to you. In every I knew how. Maybe I come into the world backwards, I don’t know.” Troy's attitude has completely changed because how he is constantly mad and angry with everything, so he fails to realize that Rose has become aware of these things.
Both men experience anger since they went through tough times in their life. Othello’s emotions took a drastic turn when Iago told him that he believes Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. “Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by. I would not kill thy unprepared spirit. No, heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.” Othello’s confronts her about the cheating but anger got the best of him, which lead him to killing Desdemona. In Troy’s case he gets angry with his son because he is constantly asking for money. “You was in the neighborhood all right, nigger. You telling the truth there. You was in the neighborhood cause it’s my payday.” Troy anger gets shown many times throughout the play with his son because the only time his son comes to see him is to get money. Further in the scene Lyons comes back to talk to his father, “Naw.. You go ahead and keep that ten dollar. Put it in the bank. The next time you feel like you wanna come by here and ask me for something... you go down there and get that.” Troy gets angry because he works good and hard for his money ad hi son doesn’t seem to see that, Lyon take advantage of his father. The men from both plays create anger since they believe they both get taken advantage of.
In the play Othello and Desdemona face a big part of dramatic irony. This is when Othello fails to realize Iago has been deceiving him about Cassio and Desdemona “sleeping” together. “For I will make him tell the tale anew where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when he hath, and is again to cope your wife. I say, but mark his gesture.” The audience is aware of Iago's deception, but Othello is blind to realize this until he has lost the love of his life. Troy and Rose deal with something completely different, situational irony. In the beginning of the play Troy talks about hoe he dislikes his job and he want to be raised to another position. He wants to be the first African American driver of the garbage truck versus picking up the trash. “Ain’t got nobody to talk to... feel like you working by yourself.” He believed that he would be happier if he got the job but once he got it, he realized that all it did was make him more miserable. In the beginning Troy builds a fence around his yard to hold his loves ones in and to keep death out. Bono states “Some people build fences o keep people out... and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you.” Toward the end this becomes situational irony when Troy has a heart attack after an argument with Cory and death meets him inside his fenced in yard.
Othello and Troy are both strong and powerful me who have overcame a lot through their life time, but have come to realize the major downfalls they have faced. Even though they come from different time periods they still have many similarities that make them closely related. Overlooking their completely different lives you can come to realize that most can be related. Even if they both went through deep conflicts with their loved ones, leaving them both in the dark at the end.
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