The Don, the Moor, and the Betrayer - The "Kiss of Death" in Several Films of Othello

Aug 25, 2026

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Explores how cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare’s Othello use the motif “kiss of death” to reframe Judas-betrayal allusions embedded in the play. Focuses on how directors shape audiences’ understanding of Othello through two key kisses and related gender dynamics, comparing at least a decade-long range of adaptations. Particular emphasis is placed on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II, where Michael Corleone’s kisses become “ocular proof” of unspoken decisions, moral hermeneutics, and ethical priorities.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Judas allusions and the “kiss of death” motif

Coppola’s The Godfather Part II and “ocular proof”

Shakespearean ethics, possession, and tragedy paradigm

Comparative film and television adaptations

The Don, the Moor, and the Betrayer: The"Kiss of Death" in Several Films of Othello Greg M. Colón Semenza, University of Connecticut Abstract In the final act of Othello, the hero tells the lifeless Desdemona, "I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee" (5.2.359), a moment before taking his own life. The line constitutes one of the play's two indirect allusions to the "kiss of Judas," which is described in three of the four gospels (Luke 22.48; Matthew 26.48-49; Mark 14.44-45) . In this essay, I consider the cinema's treatment of Othello's Judas kisses in about ten significant adaptations and/or appropriations of the tragedy produced between the years 1922 and 2006. My goal is to show how each particular film's treatment of the kisses speaks directly to the particular ways directors wish their audiences to relate to the character Othello by story's end—whether primarily as possessed victim, as savage murderer, as both, or as a figure so complex as to defy any such dualistic categorization. I believe that, for filmmakers, the kiss serves as a kind of "ocular proof" of each film's ethical hermeneutic priorities, especially regarding the gender dynamics ofthe play's narrative. In two key moments of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather 2 (1974), Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) kisses his brother Fredo (John Cazale) as a kind of "ocular proof" of his unspoken decision to murder him. In a now-legendary scene, Michael clutches his brother's head with both hands, stares directly into his eyes, kisses him roughly on the mouth, and declares, "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart." (A film clip is available in the HTML version of this document.) Especially in the context of the Cuban revolution, whose celebratory origin serves as the occasion for the scene, the kiss renders explicit themes of love and violence which define not only the brothers' relationship but also the internal battle being fought over Michael's soul.1 Coppola stages the kiss as perhaps the pivotal moment in the saga, for in choosing to kill Fredo rather than forgive him, Michael will seal his own fate. Later in the film, during the brothers' funeral for their mother, Michael kisses Fredo a second time, signaling to hit man Neri (Richard Bright) that, because their mother is dead, the hit can finally occur. Thus Coppola alludes to two crucial biblical passages— 2 Borrowers and Lenders the archetypal first murder of Abel by his brother Cain, and the betrayal of Jesus by his beloved disciple Judas—to dramatize Michael's damnation. Both Coppola and screenwriter-novelist Mario Puzo have spoken about their nervousness in screening Michael's murder ofFredo. As Puzo explains, "We had a disagreement. . . . I didn't want Fredo to be killed . . . Psychologically, I felt that if Michael killed his brother while his mother was still alive, the audience would never forgive him" ("Coppola and Puzo" 2001). Together, the writers settled on two focused strategies for handling the murder. The obvious one was to delay the actual murder ofFredo until after the death of his mother. The more interesting strategy, I think, involved their attempt to aestheticize or render "poetic" the murder and the two kisses leading up to it, a move that, Eric S. Christianson says, succeeds by "shifting interest from consequence and realism to aesthetics" (2005, 118). Coppola thus manages a visual language capable of redeeming the tragic protagonist at precisely the same moments that his damnation is most glaringly self-evident. Long before The Godfather, Shakespeare's Othello appropriated the biblical "kiss of death" for what may have been quite similar purposes. In two separate, highly aestheticized kisses, Othello seals his own fate, the first one prefacing his murder of Desdemona, the second his self-murder. Both after and before Othello "puts out the light" in the play's final scene, he kisses his sleeping wife, exclaiming "'One more, one more. / Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill t

FAQs

What “kiss of death” moment does the essay focus on in Othello?

It centers on Othello’s two kisses at the end of the play: one preceding the murder of Desdemona and a second accompanying Othello’s self-killing, framed as indirect allusions to Judas’ betrayal.

How does the essay interpret Coppola’s use of kissing in The Godfather Part II?

It argues the kisses Michael gives Fredo function as “ocular proof” of an unspoken choice to murder him, linking love and violence and signaling Michael’s moral downfall.

What is the essay’s broader aim beyond discussing Coppola?

It examines how numerous major film and television adaptations reinvent the biblical allusions, revealing how filmmakers’ aesthetic and political priorities reshape racial and gender politics.

Aug 25, 2026

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