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.
