Two Tragedies of Love: Romeo and Juliet and Othello

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Othello, love collides with violent conflict, creating a range of challenges and opportunities for filmmakers and their visions of the plays. Key to the plays are questions of identity, and the borders between Shakespeare’s lovers have been interpreted in the twenty-first century in profoundly political ways, resonating with inter-racial, caste and ethnic conflict, honour killings, domestic violence and discourses of sexual politics and gender identity. This chapter surveys the range of Romeo and Juliet and Othello on screen, considering some of the lesser-known and recent adaptations alongside the landmark films. While not exhaustive, it illustrates the scope and range of possibilities the plays have offered to filmmakers from various cultures.