Similarities Between Guess Who's Coming To Dinner And Othello

The relevance of “being different” depends on the relationship between the values and context within a society. This concept is shown through the comparative study of the 1600’s play “Othello”, by William Shakespeare, and the 1967 feature film “Guess who’s coming to dinner”, by Stanley Kramer. Both these texts have similar issues of difference in the form of race and character trait. Comparing the two texts it can be seen that the presents and or elimination of evil and the values of trust, honesty, protection and suspicion all impact upon the characters that are considered to be different. The values and character traits present in these two texts are part of the context of the society in which they were composed in; therefore showing the
In the play “Othello”; when the fair beauty Desdemona elopes with a dark skinned man she is disowned by her father. The marriage of a white woman and Black man was unheard of in that society and in that context morally it was a huge insult and sin. “O heaven! How got she out? O treason of the blood! Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters’ minds”, the use of punctuation like exclamation marks shows the intensity of Brabantio’s (Desdemona’s father’s) words. This mistrust and abandonment is one of the two main reasons why Desdemona’s and Othello’s relationship fails. They have no external support or protection. “Guess who’s coming to dinner is set in California in 1967 in America. A white woman marrying an African American man is also very shocking in this context. However when Joey tells her parents of her plans to be wed to a “Negro”, they may be apprehensive by they do not abandon her at all. Her families values are more modern and open minded than the typical American family and so Joe’s own personal context allows her to have a support network. Joey’s mother is told first of the plans to be married and she is shocked but not angry nor betrayed, “Doc, Doc, Doctor John Prentice, I’m so pleased to meet you. Well I suppose it would be alright if I said my goodness, oh my goodness.” The repetition of the words Doc and my goodness communicates
However Shakespeare does not concentrate on this factor. He almost teases his responders by having a dark skinned lead character, that is wealthy and successful and then letting his race be only an identifier but not something to cause obvious uproar within the play. Instead the role of evil, as a difference based on character trait is the largest issue within the play. Iago uses the values of trust and loyalty to manipulate Othello into thinking that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. Iago steals a handkerchief from Desdemona (which was a gift from Othello). Then he tells Othello that he saw Cassio with Desdemona’s handkerchief and that he suspects a love affair between the two. “Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief spotted with strawberries in your wife’s hand? But such a handkerchief I am sure it was your wife’s did today, see Cassio wipe his beard with.” The strong imagery in this quote would have clearly aggravated Othello’s jealousy. So Othello’s value of trust of Desdemona is replaced by suspicion and jealousy. The Evil villain Iago being part of Othello’s and Desdemona’s context helps to destroy their relationship. In “Guess who’s coming to Dinner” there is no real villain. The closest thing to a villain is the character “Hilary” who is a nosy woman shocked by the news. Hilary