What happens when men are pushed to their absolute breaking point? What brings them to that point? And what will pull them back to a place where they can say I did the right thing? That is the question that will be answered in this paper. When we discuss the similarities between two characters, Othello from the play Othello and Corvo from the video game Dishonored which was loosely based off of Othello.
Let’s start by setting up the story of the game since there are not many people talk about the game so it is somewhat obscure. The plot of Dishonored goes as follows. The game begins with Corvo Attono the Royal Protector returning to Dunwall Tower after a diplomatic mission to other islands in order to find a solution to the rat plague that has infested the streets of Dunwall city. Corvo enters the castle and then goes to talk to Empress Jasmine Kaldwin. But is interrupted by his 10 year old daughter Emily who also the daughter of the Empress Jasmine.
This is where things get interesting because the game has multiple choices that can be made now there are choices which are cannon to the game. Cannon in this case meaning the things that actually happened in the lore of the game. There are also choices that give two different endings and thus two different depictions of the character this paper will be discussing both versions of this character and how what choices are made by which Crovo is simple most of them either add to chaos or not. Chaos is the mechanic that determines which ending you get: High or Low Chaos. If a decision does not add to Chaos then it will either be skipped or will be made based on Corvo’s character between the two versions.
So in this case both Corvos play hide and seek with Emily. This is because Corvo has shown a lot of love for Emily and would do pretty much anything for her. After playing with Emily Corvo goes to see Jasmine and give her the news that the other islands will be quarantining Dunwall until the plague ends. As Jasmine is mourning the news that Emily sees men on the rooftops coming towards them they are assassins. Corvo fights them off until he is captured by some magic weird magic from one of the assailants one of the unmasked men goes to the queen who is holding Emily she tries to fight back but is ultimately stabbed in the gut by the head assassin Daud. Corvo then is dropped and crawls over to the dying queen as she asks him to find Emily before dying. Guards come with the Spymaster and Head Overseer, they accuse Corvo of killing the Empress and take him to prison. He is tortured for the next few months in order to sign a fake confession for the murder of the Empress and is set to be executed. That is, until he gets a note and key from the loyalists, who also have a bomb to allow him to blow up the door and escape from the prison. Low Chaos Corvo sneaks through the building, knocking out all of the guards, only alerting them with the explosion. While High Chaos Crovo cuts his way through the building, slaughtering everyone in his way. In any case both Corvos make their way to the sewer and collect the gear left for them by the loyalists avoiding rats and additional guards the only thing changing being whether the guards there are breathing or not. As Corvo emerges from the sewers he meets Samual the boat captain who will bring him to the hounds pit pub where he meets most of the loyalists those being Havelock, Pendleton, Callista, and Piero who makes Corvo weapons and gear including his iconic mask. Once Corvo has met everyone he goes to sleep and is visited by an extradimensional god named the outsider. He gives him the mark of the outsider which allows him to preform magic such as teleporting. The Outsider also gives him Jasmine’s heart, which allows him to find runes to power up his abilities and bone charms, which grant additional supernatural powers. It also tells him secrets of anything he points it at. Then, finally, we get to the first real mission Corvo is sent on, killing High Overseer Cam. Upon arrival, Low Chaos Corvo sneaks around and, after hearing about a conversation between two overseers, knocks out Campbell and gives him the Heretic’s Brand, removing him from the position of High Overseer and neutralizing him and taking his notebook which has the location of Emily. High Chaos Crovo rips through everyone, reaping bloody vengeance and taking the notebook off of his mangled corpse. Using the notebook, Corvo tracks Emily’s location to the Golden Cat, a brothel that serves the upperclass, kept under lock and key by the Pendleton twins brothers to Trevor Pendalton, a member of the loyalist conspiracy. Low Chaos Crovo makes a deal with a criminal named Slackjaw, who says that he can take them out without killing them if Corvo gets the code to a safe. High Chaos Corvo makes his way into the Golden Cat and slaughters every single guard in there, along with the Pendltons. Both Corvos find Emily in the Golden Cat and bring her to Samual’s boat so they can get the hell out of dodge. They bring Emily back to the Hounds Pit, where Corvo is sent off to find Anton Sokolov, who knows the identity of the Lord Ruler’s financial backer. Corvo find Sokolov kidnaps him and brings him back for an interrogation. After learning that the financial backer is Lady Boyle. Upon making his way into the party, Corvo learns that the Boyle sisters have made a game of guessing which Boyle is which. Low Chaos Corvo is approached by a man named Brisby who doesn’t want Lady Boyle killed so he Asks the Royal Protector to help him kidnap her instead so Corvo does, taking her out of the picture and weakening the position of the Lord Ruler. High Chaos Crovo does what he always does, cutting through the opposition like a hot knife through butter and ending the lives of all three Boyles. Now with the Lord Ruler significantly weakened and in a High Chaos playthrough pants thoroughly shited it’s time to strike. So Corvo makes his way back to Dunwall Tower. Low Chaos Corvo sneaks his way into the tower, knocking out anyone who gets in his way until he finds the radio announcement area, learning he can take down the Lord Ruler by announcing his crimes to all of Dunwall so after Corvo breaks into the Lord Ruler’s safe takes the audio card and plugs it into the announcement system reveals everything. High Chaos Corvo continues the bloodshed and mayhem by ending the lives of as many people as possible confronting the Lord Regent who has locked himself the safe room who he stabs in the gut after revealing himself to be Corvo Attano. With the Lord Regent eliminated, the Loyalists celebrate drinking and partying. But when Corvo goes up to bed to slee,p it’s revealed that he’s been poisoned by Havelock and the others. In Low Chaos Corvo’s case, it’s because they wanted the power of the Lord Regent. High Chaos it’s to make sure their crimes are never revealed. In both cases, Samual, who was in charge of poisoning him only gave him half the dose in hopes he could end the madness. The Loyalists send Corvo on a ship to the flooded district, where he is kidnaped by the assassins who killed the empress. They take his gear and imprison him. Corvo breaks out, retrieves his gear, and confronts Daud, the leader and killer of the empress. They have a big climactic fight, one that Corvo wins and decides the fate of Daud. Low Chaos Corvo lets Daud live and walks away to go get Emily. High Chaos Corvo slits Daud’s throat and throws him into the sewer. Corvo makes his way to Hounds Pit, looking for the Loyalist, and discovers that most of the servants have been killed along with guards surrounding the whole thing. Corvo finds Sokolov and Pierro who tell him about an electric pylon that can take down all the guards. High Chaos Corvo burns them all to death. While Low Chaos knocks them out allowing everyone to escape. Then Finally Samual brings Corvo to Kingsparrow Island. Low Chaos Corvo sneaks his way into the tower climbing it until he confronts Havelock knocking him out and finally reuniting with Emily. High Chaos Corvo’s sword doesn’t stop swinging until he also makes his way to the top where Havelock threatens to kill her, Corvo shoots Havelock in the head as he speaks Emily falls but Corvo grabs her before she goes over the edge saving her life. When it comes to the endings Low Chaos Emily becomes a fair and just ruler who is loved by the people and solve the rat plague. High Chaos Emily brutally suppresses the people who slowly die to the rat plague.
Getting to the actual character and story analysis the two stories. Their is something that these two stories bring up and can be shown in the characters of Othello and both Corvos. Restraint and discipline. Low Chaos Corvo showed restraint and mercy against even his enemies and providing a good example for his daughter the future empress. His reward for doing so is a loving friends and daughter plus a city that is cured of the plague essentially being revived. While look at what High Chaos Corvo gets. Constant fighting and Chaos a daughter who is executing more people then god damn Robespierre and a city in ruins. And what does Othello get for his lack of restraint and mercy when it came to his wife cheating on him? His reputation ruined by him murdering his own wife because he never talked to her. Never discussed it with his wife and didn’t have the confidence or the discipline to discus his problem with his wife and she died because of it. And even Othello himself died by his own hands not being able to live with himself due to his own actions.
Both characters have suffered and one can assume why they did what they did. Even in their darkest times. Corvo driven to hate and anger by the suffering he faced in the wake of his lovers death and daughters kidnapping. Making it understandable that he would start killing all of those responsible and who gets in his way. And for Othello it’s understandable that he would be upset with his wife cheating on him especially when Iago produces evidence. But where Othello and High Chaos Corvo go wrong is the lengths they go. Othello decides that the only way to deal with his wife cheating on him is to kill everyone involved. Causing him to lose everything he cares about. And High Chaos Corvo kills absolutely everyone in his path not caring about the rat plague or the people who are dying along the way just doing what they think is the right thing. Which sets up Emily both mentally and politically to start killing everyone around her to keep herself safe and stay in power. Where Low Chaos Corvo understood that restraint would allow him too keep everyone he loves safe and be able to live with himself at the end of the day.
Sources:
https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/150/1/178/94884/Video-Games-amp-the-Novel
Sprockets and Springes 