Othello’s ensign (a job also known as an ancient or standard-bearer), and the villain of the play. Iago is twenty-eight years old. While his ostensible reason for desiring Othello’s demise is that he has been passed over for promotion to lieutenant, Iago’s motivations are never very clearly expressed and seem to originate in an obsessive, almost aesthetic delight in manipulation and destruction. One of Brabanzio’s kinsmen, Lodovico acts as a messenger from Venice to Cyprus. He arrives in Cyprus in Act IV with letters announcing that Othello has been replaced by Cassio as governor. Graziano Morrison, Michael A. "Shakespeare in North America" in Wells, Stanley and Stanton, Sarah (eds.) "The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage", Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp.230–258, at pp.231-232. Othello was not published in Shakespeare's lifetime. [42] The first published version of the play was a quarto in 1622 (usually abbreviated to "Q"), which was followed a year later by the play's appearance in the First Folio (usually abbreviated to "F"). [43] The play’s protagonist and hero. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. In spite of his elevated status, he is nevertheless easy prey to insecurities because of his age, his life as a soldier, and his race. He possesses a “free and open nature,” which his ensign Iago uses to twist his love for his wife, Desdemona, into a powerful and destructive jealousy.

Other adaptations of Shakespeare's story to be filmed include Franco Zeffirelli's 1986 film of Verdi's Otello [282] and the 1956 Jubal which resets the story as a Western, centered on the Cassio character. [283] The play was abridged to 30 minutes by Leon Garfield, and produced with cel animation for the TV series Shakespeare: The Animated Tales. [284] Tim Blake Nelson's basketball-themed teen drama O reset the story at an elite boarding school. The similarity of the film's ending to the Columbine massacre, which happened while the film was being edited, delayed its release for over two years, until August 2001. [285] A British TV adaptation by Andrew Davies, screened in 2001, re-set the story among senior officers of the Metropolitan Police. [286] And the first decade of the 21st-Century saw two non-English language film adaptations: Alexander Abela's French Souli set the story in a modern-day Madagascan fishing village, and Vishal Bhardwaj's Hindi Omkara amidst political violence in modern Uttar Pradesh. [287] Other media [ edit ] Stage adaptations [ edit ] Ferraro, Bruno (translator) Gli Hecatommithi - Third Decade, Seventh Novella in Neil, 2006, Appendix C pp.434-444 at p.440. He runs at IAGO IAGO, from behind, stabs EMILIA, and exit GRATIANO The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife. Both Desdemona and Othello defy by their words and gestures the calumnies heaped upon them by Roderigo and Brabantio and vindicate the imperatives of the heart over parental authority and custom. As in a typical Shakespearean comedy, love, tested, triumphs over all opposition. Desmet, Chisty "Character Criticism" in Wells, Stanley and Orlin, Lena Cowen "Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide", Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.351-372 at p.357, citing A. C. Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy.Voltaire's 1732 French play Zaïre was a "neoclassical refurbishment" of Shakespeare's "barbarous" work. [290] And across continental Europe through most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the play was better known than Shakespeare's in Jean-François Ducis' adaptation and its subsequent translations, in which a heroine renamed Hédelmone is stabbed to death by Othello. [291] Iago continues to spur Othello's jealousy. When he reports that Cassio has admitted to sleeping with Desdemona, Othello falls into an epileptic fit. Iago urges Othello to hide while he questions Cassio about Desdemona. In fact, he asks Cassio about Bianca, causing Cassio to laugh. Watching from afar, Othello grows increasingly furious. Then, Bianca shows up, and throws Desdemona's handkerchief at Cassio, accusing him of having it from another whore. After Cassio and Bianca leave, Iago easily persuades Othello to kill Desdemona. Iago promises to take care of Cassio himself. He then convinces Roderigo that if Cassio were to die, Othello would have to remain in Cyprus, leaving Desdemona in Venice for Roderigo. Iago instructs Roderigo to wait outside Bianca's house that night and kill Cassio when he leaves.

Thompson and Honigmann, 2016, pp.13-14. The complete novella appears, in different translations, in Thompson and Honigmann, 2016 at pp.377-396 and in Neill, 2006, pp.434-444. Othello is a Moorish military commander who was serving as a general of the Venetian army in defence of Cyprus against invasion by Ottoman Turks. He has recently married Desdemona, a beautiful and wealthy Venetian lady younger than himself, without the knowledge of and despite the later objection of her father. Iago is Othello's malevolent ensign, who maliciously stokes his master's jealousy until the usually stoic Moor kills his beloved wife in a fit of blind rage. Due to its enduring themes of passion, jealousy, and race, Othello is still topical and popular and is widely performed, with numerous adaptations. Othello is parodied in the form of a rap song in the stage show The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). [309] Audio [ edit ]

Videos

Enter CASSIO, and certain Officers with torches OTHELLO The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant.

Daileader, Celia B. "Nude Shakespeare in Film and Nineties Popular Feminism" in Alexander, Catherine M. S. and Wells, Stanley "Shakespeare and Sexuality" Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp.183-200 at pp.190-192.

Cast

Austern, Linda Phyllis "The Music in the Play" in Neil, Michael (ed.) and Shakespeare, William "Othello" The Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford University Press, 2006 pp.445-454 at p.445. Gurr, Andrew and Ichikawa, Mariko "Oxford Shakespeare Topics: Staging in Shakespeare's Theatres" Oxford University Press, 2000, p.55. Hoenselaars, Ton "Shakespeare and Translation" in Wells, Stanley and Orlin, Lena Cowen "Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide", Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 645-657 at p.648. Othello arrives, greets his wife, and announces that there will be reveling that evening to celebrate Cyprus’s safety from the Turks. Once everyone has left, Roderigo complains to Iago that he has no chance of breaking up Othello’s marriage. Iago assures Roderigo that as soon as Desdemona’s “blood is made dull with the act of sport,” she will lose interest in Othello and seek sexual satisfaction elsewhere (II.i. 222). However, Iago warns that “elsewhere” will likely be with Cassio. Iago counsels Roderigo that he should cast Cassio into disgrace by starting a fight with Cassio at the evening’s revels. In a soliloquy, Iago explains to the audience that eliminating Cassio is the first crucial step in his plan to ruin Othello. That night, Iago gets Cassio drunk and then sends Roderigo to start a fight with him. Apparently provoked by Roderigo, Cassio chases Roderigo across the stage. Governor Montano attempts to hold Cassio down, and Cassio stabs him. Iago sends Roderigo to raise alarm in the town. Enter a Herald with a proclamation; People following Herald It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant