- This page is about the Shakespeare play, for the board game, see Othello board
game.
"Othello and Desdemona in Venice" by Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856)
Othello: The Moor of Venice is a play by Shakespeare written about 1603.
Othello is a tragedy, like Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear. Shakespeare probably wrote Othello after Hamlet but before the latter two. It
was performed for the first time on November 1, 1604 at Whitehall Palace in London.
The title character, Othello, is presented sympathetically despite his race. This is unusual for English literature of Shakespeare's time, which commonly depicted
Moors and other dark-skinned peoples as villains. Shakespeare avoids any discussion of
Islam in the play; Othello is apparently Christian.
Plot summary
Othello, who elopes with Desdemona at the play's
opening, leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies in Cyprus. When Desdemona and Cassio join Othello in Cyprus, the treacherous Iago
persuades Othello that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio. Othello kills Desdemona in anger. Iago's wife, Emilia,
then reveals that Desdemona's affair was an invention of Iago's. Iago kills Emilia and Othello commits suicide. Cassio rules Cyprus and Iago's punishment is left for Cassio to decide (see also Othello list of characters). The plot for Othello was
developed from Giraldo
Cinthio's Hecatommithi.
Movie versions
Othello was also made into a movie several times,
including:
- The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) by Orson Welles
- Othello
(1965) starring Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay, and Joyce Redman
- Otello (1986)
- Othello
(1995) starring Kenneth Branagh, Laurence Fishburne, and Irene Jacob.Directed
by Oliver Parker.
- Kaliyattam (1997), in Malayalam, a modern update, set in Kerala, starring Suresh Gopi as Othello, Lal as Iago, Manju Warrier as Desdemona, directed by
Jayaraaj.
- O (2001) an modern update, set
in an American high school.
The same story is the basis for two operatic versions, called Otello, by Gioacchino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi.
See also
External links
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