William Shakespeare’s Othello, Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, and Speaker For The Dead

In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the protagonist of the same name was a general in Venice. He promoted Florentine Michael Cassio to a higher position of personal lieutenant instead of his friend Iago. This, of course, incurred the ire of Iago. He plotted against Othello and Cassio’s by enlisting the help of Roderigo, the spurned suitor of Desdemona (Othello’s fiancée).


Iago sowed intrigues between Desdemona and Othello and Othello and Cassio. Iago made Othello jealous by insinuating that Desdemona and Cassio was having an affair. It so inflamed Othello that he decided to kill Desdemona by strangling her, also upon the suggestion of Iago. Cassio got wounded by Roderigo and the death of Desdemona.

Othello later learned belatedly from Emilia, Iago’s wife, that Iago manipulated all the stories. Othello wounded Iago then killed himself. Iago killed Emilia. Iago got imprisoned and Cassio was proclaimed the new governor of Cyrpus.

Orson Scott Card’s Ender`s Game was more gruesome as miscommunication led to the annihilation of an entire race – the alien Formics or better known as the Buggers. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin was a young child-genius who was made to undergo training in preparation for the feared Third Invasion of the alien Buggers. During the first invasion, the alien almost wiped out the entire human population due to lack of technology. The Second Invasion, the human population again almost got eradicated but not as much as the First invasion.

To prevent total eradication of mankind, the International Military Forces enlisted the help of genius children aged five to thirteen to undergo simulated space training that were intended to equip them with skills when the aliens would come.

Ender showed incredible battle skills earning him the Commander post in so short a time. He was then made to undergo a series of simulated battles culminating in the exterminating of the buggers’ planet which in turn killed them. It turned out that the final test was not simulated but the real one. And Ender just committed Xenocide by eliminating the entire Bugger race.

Ender feeling remorseful for his mistake, he together with his sister Valentine, left on a colonization ship bound for the bugger’s destroyed planet where he intended to reside. There, Ender found out that the Buggers’ left him the pupa of the last surviving Queen or the Hive-Queen.

The pupa telepathically talked to Ender and explained to him that the reason why Buggers attacked humans was they believed that humans are not sentient or capable of consciousness. The Buggers realized their error and wanted to make amends by refraining from attacking humans anymore. Therefore, Ender’s Xenocide to defend earth was no longer necessary. Due to lack communication, the bugger could not relay this message to humans which led to the tragic end of the buggers.

Ender related the Queen’s tale by writing a book called “The Hive-Queen” and using the pen name “Speaker for the Dead”. He left the colony and brought the pupa with him to seek a place for the bugger to breed.

Orson Scott Card’s Speaker For The Dead was another tale that delves on miscommunication. But unlike the previous examples, William Shakespeare’s Othello and Ender`s Game, the story did not end tragically. It did not also led to death of humans or the wipe out of an entire alien race. The Speaker For The Dead offers Ender the redemption he so desperately sought after the Xenocide of the Buggers in the preceding book due to miscommunication.

In Speaker for the Dead, Ender was called by his real name Andrew Wiggin. Ender wanted to amend for his previous mistake by working as a speaker for the dead or a person who speaks in behalf of the dead to shed light on their actions or the way they lived their lives.

Another possible miscommunication problem arose in the story when a new specie of intelligent alien called the Pequeninos or popularly known as the “piggies” had been discovered. Conflict arose when the piggies killed two xenologists – Pipo and Libo. The killing started when Novinha discovered the presence of descolada in every life form in Lusitania. The significance of Pipo’s and Libo’s murders was revealed: the piggies do not consider the trees as their gods and do not worship them.

The trees came from dead piggies called the brothertrees. Another tree was the fathertree derived from dissected piggies. These fathertrees are capable of reproduction and are sentient. Descolada aids in the change of piggies to trees. Due to Ender’s efforts, he was able to forge peace between humans and piggies through a signed treaty. In this instance, Ender effectively lessened the harmful effects of miscommunication.

The three tales vividly depict the possible harmful effects of miscommunication among races or peoples. Miscommunication has waged unnecessary wars and took a number of lives. Communication then is a necessary aspect in human relations as shown by the stories.

Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello provided a face to the chilling act on the ease with which communication could be easily twisted in order to create conflicts. Miscommunication could easily be brought upon by people with malicious intentions, people with no conscience and lives for their ulterior selfish motives. People such as Iago are guilty of treachery and falsehood.

Through Iago’s masterful and cunning manipulations, Othello committed the worst act of killing the one he loved most. Then in an act of repentance upon the discovery of truth on how Iago made up stories, he killed himself too. This tragic end goes to show the extent miscommunication could lead to in people’s relationships and lives.

Iago shows a side that is inherent in some people. We can relate to Othello’s plight as we, ourselves, experienced intrigues sown by other people. We hear criticisms, unfair judgment, backbiting and other acts of manipulations. In the process, we feel hurt. We lose friends. We got alienated even to the point of being ostracized. Such is the effect of miscommunication that every person could relate to.

Card’s Ender’s Game provides another facet to the dangers of miscommunication. It is worst than the fate suffered by the characters in Othello as the Buggers met total annihilation due to plain simple miscommunication. The massive xenocide leaves the readers feeling totally deflated. It is simply mind-boggling how a simple lack of communication could lead to such a tragic end. Yet, what makes it so chilling is the fact that that this is realistically possible.

How many times do we see wars explode due to plain miscommunication of motives? Civil wars, wars among countries, genocide were evident in our history. From this nonsense threat of human lives, we see the negative effects lack of communication among leaders, among the government and its peoples and among nations bring. How easily could problems have been avoided if people took the time to sit down and address issues in a more objective way?

Card’s Speaker for the Dead offers us hope in the midst of such grimness. Humans, as we are, miscommunication would be something we need to cope with. With Speaker for the Dead we learned that the hope of eradicating the debilitating effects of miscommunication is found in the act of reaching out to another person or race.

It is indeed ironic that we come to hate what we don’t understand. At the same time, we come to understand only if we stop hating. All three stories depict the kind of hatred that could stem from miscommunication. Hatred could be as total as Iago’s or blinded as Ender’s. But hatred and its dire consequences could be greatly reduced if we all take the time to understand the enemy. At least, if not to understand them, then to stop hating them so we could start the long process of understanding their motives.

People’s motives for doing certain things vary. Some are for their own gain. Others for revenge. Still others, for good intentions. It is a special kind of person who takes the time to stop and listen. There is a thin line between what we perceived reality to be and actual reality. In our haste to view and judge things negatively, we fail to grasps its positive implications. That is why, in the process we end up judging other people’s motives unfavorably.

The problem with miscommunication is it underplays man’s more noble side such as the values of trust and honor. If we hear false accusations about us it is so easy to react negatively. To lose objectivity in the face of unfair accusations. Too often, we fall victim to these unfair lies.

The breakdown of communication such as in the case of Iago would have been greatly reduced if Othello took the time to talk and listen to his beloved Desdemona and his friend, Cassio’s side. The negative consequences of miscommunication would have been avoided if Othello remained objective all along and not let his emotions took over.

Somehow, Othello’s rush judgment offers us a lesson on what to do in the face of intrigues and manipulations.

At some point in our lives, we all come across people who would misunderstand us and our motives. We meet people who have no qualms hurting us and our loved ones by spreading vicious lies. Betrayal is not confined to Iago alone. In our lives, it is almost a certainty that we would stumble across a few Iago’s and fall victim to their wiles. Therefore, it is imperative then that we ready ourselves for such eventuality. We do not want to end up as clueless as Othello.

Basically, to lessen the impact of manipulations I believe it is important to maintain objectivity all throughout. Then weigh options available well before deciding which one to follow. Had Othello took the time to observe with his own eyes and not through someone’s prodding what was actually taking place then he would have avoided the tragic end that he and Desdemona met. He should have get to the heart of the matter first before making rush decisions.

From the stories, we can gather that another good way to prevent miscommunication would be to avoid preconceived notions about the person. For instance, if we look at someone wearing ordinary clothes we naturally assumed that he or she is of average financial status. On the other hand, if we see someone dressed to the nines, we assume that he or she is filthy rich. These misconceptions, of course, could greatly hamper our ability to communicate with the person as we already formed opinions about him or her even before the person speaks.

We could also try to do what Christians normally do in the face of lies and intrigues – we can forgive. By forgiving, we begin to see the person for what he or she truly is. With hatred out of the way, we can be more objective in dealing with the situation and getting to heart of the matter would not be as difficult as when we are under the influence of hatred.

It is sad that during our present times, despite the advances of communication, miscommunication is still a huge problem we faced even on a daily basis. Perhaps if we stop judging and start understanding then we become better communicators and effectively reduce miscommunication in the process.