Main Characters

Othello — a Moor commanding the armies of Venice

Desdemona — the daughter of a Venetian senator, and Othello's bride

Iago — Othello's ensign; perhaps Shakespeare's greatest villain

Cassio — Othello's lieutenant, promoted in place of Iago

Emilia — Iago's wife and Desdemona's attendant

Roderigo — a jealous suitor of Desdemona

Bianca — a courtesan in Cyprus, and Cassio's mistress

Brabantio — Desdemona's father, and a senator in Venice

Lodovico — Brabantio and Desdemona's kinsman

Gratiano — Brabantio's brother

Clown — Othello's servant

Montano — the governor of Cyprus before Othello

The Duke of Venice — the official authority in Venice

Introduction

Othello was likely written in early 1604 and first performed in front of King James I of England on November 1 of that year. The great Richard Burbage played Othello. In 1660, Margaret Hughes played Desdemona, becoming the first woman allowed to perform on the English stage.

Shakespeare's choice of a black African as a hero was strikingly original. Blackness in Elizabethan England was a color associated with moral evil and death, and Moors in the theater, like Jews, were usually stereotyped as villains, such as Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus, an early play. Othello is a noble, towering figure whose good nature is the means to his downfall, making the play that much more tragic.

Othello is set against the backdrop of the wars between Venice and Turkey that raged in the latter part of the sixteenth century. Cyprus, which is the setting for most of the action, was a Venetian outpost attacked by the Turks in 1570 and conquered by the Ottomans the following year. Shakespeare's information probably comes from The History of the Turks, by Richard Knolles, which was published in England in autumn of 1603.

Scholars believe Othello is derived from an Italian prose tale written in 1565 by Giovanni Battista Giraldi in his collection Hecatommithi, although there seems to have been no English translation at the time Shakespeare wrote Othello (prompting the thought that he may well have been able to read some Italian). The original story concerns a Moorish general who is deceived by his ensign into believing his wife is unfaithful.

The Play

Othello, a celebrated Moorish general of Venice, has promoted Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago. Iago is incensed and plots against Cassio and Othello to get his due. Othello and Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of Brabantio, fall in love, elope, and marry. Brabantio is deeply upset by the deceit and the marriage. When Othello is posted to Cyprus by the Duke of Venice, Iago escorts Desdemona.

Framing Cassio

Arriving in Cyprus, Iago immediately begins plotting. He tricks Cassio into getting drunk, then has Roderigo, a former suitor of Desdemona who is upset at her marriage, pick a fight with Cassio. Cassio ends up getting arrested and subsequently demoted. Iago then encourages Cassio to call on Desdemona, saying that if she speaks up for him with her husband, Othello may reinstate him.

Iago now goes to Othello, and as they watch Desdemona and Cassio talk, recalling her father's accusations of her betrayal of trust, Iago plants the seeds of jealousy in Othello. Iago suggests that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair.

By chance, because his wife Emilia is Desdemona's maid, Iago gets hold of a handkerchief Othello gave Desdemona as a token of his love for her. Iago plants the handkerchief in Cassio's room and then tells Othello that he saw Cassio with it. When Othello asks Desdemona about the handkerchief, she tells him that it was lost. Cassio, meanwhile, gives it to a courtesan with whom he is intimate. Iago then gets Othello to overhear a conversation whereby Othello thinks they are discussing Desdemona, when in fact they are talking about Bianca, the courtesan.

Iago's evil is the antithesis of the love that Othello and Desdemona share. The purity of their passion is perhaps one of the strongest portrayals of romantic affection in any tragedy, including Romeo and Juliet. It is this deep love that Iago hates so much because he is incapable of it, and his awareness of his weakness provides him with the key to destroying Othello.

Based on Iago's misinformation, Othello reacts. He tells Iago to kill Cassio and then angrily confronts Desdemona. Despite Desdemona's protests of innocence and Emilia's vouching for her, Othello is now convinced she is sleeping with Cassio.

The Scheme Unravels

Iago gets Roderigo to murder Cassio. Roderigo only wounds him, and Iago kills Roderigo so Roderigo can't betray his machinations. Othello hears the commotion in the street and thinks Iago has kept his part of their bargain. Now it is time to strangle Desdemona in her bed.

When Emilia discovers the crime, Desdemona, with her dying breath, refuses to accuse her husband. Emilia becomes distraught and accuses the Moor of being a murderous villain. She refuses to believe that Iago has so evilly manipulated Othello. Iago's appearance and subsequent answers make Emilia realize her husband is responsible for this tragedy.

Letters found on Roderigo's body confirm Iago's villainy. Faced with the shame of having murdered an innocent Desdemona and confronted by Venetian emisaries, Othello delivers a famous soliloquy which leads to his suicide. He dies stabbing the “heathen” within himself.

Commentary

Othello is an intense, fast-paced play with most of the action compressed into a twenty-four-hour period. Scenes begin in midconversation, and subplots are pretty inconsequential. Everything plays to the domestic tragedy, centering on the three principle characters manipulated by Iago. Indeed, in no other tragedy does a single figure have so much control over events.

The horror of the play is its inevitability. We know what Iago is planning, and we are forced to watch it unfold. The audience shares in the fate of Desdemona and Othello — caught in Iago's trap.

The swiftness with which Iago manages to destroy Othello is stunning. He needs only two conversations and a missing handkerchief to convince the Moor that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Iago's “evidence” reminds Othello of her father's parting words: “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.”

Once Othello snaps, Shakespeare delays Desdemona's murder, and we can hope that she may be saved at the last moment. Instead, Iago tries to make Othello suffer even more. Once his plan has borne its bitter fruit, the play is ended.

Famous Lines

“We cannot all be masters, nor all masters Cannot be truly follow'd” (Act I, Scene I).

“I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at” (Act I, Scene I).

“Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial” (Act II, Scene III).

“O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!” (Act II, Scene III).

“How poor are they that have not patience!” (Act II, Scene III).

“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 't is something, nothing; 'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed” (Act III, Scene III).

“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on” (Act III, Scene III).

“Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ” (Act III, Scene III).

“He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, Let him not know 't, and he's not robb'd at all” (Act III, Scene III).

“Take note, take note, O world, To be direct and honest is not safe” (Act III, Scene III).

“'Tis neither here nor there” (Act IV, Scene III).

“Put out the light, and then put out the light: If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore Should I repent me; but once put out thy light, Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume” (Act V, Scene II).

“So sweet was ne'er so fatal” (Act V, Scene II).

“Then, must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum” (Act V, Scene II).