Othello

A tragedy of trust and jealousy

Othello is William Shakespeare's tragedy about a Black general in the service of Venice who is tricked by his own officer into believing that his wife is unfaithful. Shakespeare wrote it around 1603 or 1604. The first recorded performance was at the royal court in Whitehall on November 1, 1604. It was first printed in 1622, and a longer text appeared in the First Folio of 1623. The plot comes from an Italian story in Giraldi Cinthio's collection Gli Hecatommithi (1565).

The play is tighter than Shakespeare's other great tragedies. It has no subplot, no ghost and no battle. The Turkish fleet that threatens Cyprus sinks in a storm before the fighting begins, so the only war is the one inside Othello's mind. The engine of that war is one man, Iago, who speaks more lines than the hero and tells the audience his plans as he makes them.

The main characters:

• Othello, a Moor (a man of North African descent), the Venetian army's most trusted general.
• Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian senator, who marries Othello in secret.
• Iago, Othello's ensign, or flag bearer, who presents himself as honest and plots everyone's ruin.
• Cassio, a young Florentine soldier whom Othello promotes to lieutenant over Iago.
• Emilia, Iago's wife and Desdemona's attendant.
• Roderigo, a foolish Venetian gentleman who wants Desdemona and pays Iago to help him.
• Brabantio, Desdemona's father.
• Bianca, a courtesan in Cyprus who loves Cassio.

The main themes are jealousy, the power of suggestion, race and the outsider, reputation, and the gap between honesty and the appearance of honesty.

Act 1: the elopement in Venice

The play opens at night in a Venetian street. Iago complains to Roderigo that Othello has made Cassio his lieutenant, a man with book learning and no battle experience, and left Iago as ensign. Iago says he follows Othello only to serve his own turn. He sums himself up: "I am not what I am."

The two men wake Brabantio and shout that his daughter has run off with Othello. Iago uses crude animal images of a Black man and a white woman to inflame him. Brabantio, who had welcomed Othello into his home, rouses his household and goes to find them.

At the same time, news arrives that a Turkish fleet is heading for Cyprus, a Venetian colony. The Duke and the senators summon Othello. Brabantio arrives and accuses Othello of winning his daughter with witchcraft and drugs.

Othello answers calmly. He tells the Senate that Brabantio often invited him to tell the story of his life: battles, captivity, slavery and strange lands. Desdemona listened and wept, and she loved him for the dangers he had passed. Desdemona herself comes and confirms it. She owes duty to her father, she says, but now her duty is to her husband, as her mother's was to Brabantio. The Duke accepts the marriage and sends Othello to defend Cyprus. Desdemona asks to go with him. Brabantio leaves with a warning to Othello: she has deceived her father, and she may deceive him.

Alone with Roderigo, Iago tells him to "put money in thy purse" and promises that Desdemona will tire of the Moor. Then, in a soliloquy, Iago says he hates Othello and repeats a rumor that Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia. He does not know if it is true, but he will act as if it were. His plan is to make Othello believe that Cassio is too familiar with Desdemona.

Act 2: the drinking scene in Cyprus

A storm wrecks the Turkish fleet. The Venetians land in Cyprus one ship at a time. Cassio greets Desdemona with courtly manners and takes her hand. Iago watches and says to himself that with as small a web as this he will catch as great a fly as Cassio.

Othello arrives and greets his wife with joy so complete that he says he could die now. Iago tells Roderigo that Desdemona already loves Cassio and persuades him to provoke Cassio that night.

The island celebrates the victory and the marriage. Cassio is in charge of the watch. He says he has a poor head for drink, but Iago pushes wine on him. Roderigo provokes him, Cassio chases him, and when the former governor Montano tries to stop the fight, Cassio wounds him. Iago has the alarm bell rung. Othello arrives, hears Iago's reluctant and carefully loaded account, and dismisses Cassio from his post.

Cassio is devastated. He cries that he has lost his reputation, the immortal part of himself. Iago, as a friend, tells him that reputation is an idle thing and advises him to ask Desdemona to plead his case. Then, alone, Iago explains the real plan: while Desdemona pleads for Cassio, he will pour poison into Othello's ear, suggesting that she does it out of lust.

Act 3: the temptation and the handkerchief

Cassio asks Emilia to arrange a meeting with Desdemona, who promises to plead for him and not give up. When Othello and Iago approach, Cassio leaves in a hurry. Iago mutters, "Ha, I like not that," and the poison begins.

Desdemona asks Othello again and again to restore Cassio. He agrees to see Cassio soon, and she leaves. Then comes the long temptation scene (Act 3, Scene 3), the center of the play. Iago never makes a direct charge. He hesitates, half speaks, warns Othello to beware of jealousy, the "green-eyed monster," and reminds him that Desdemona deceived her father to marry him. He suggests that a Venetian woman's tastes might turn back to men of her own country. Othello begins to doubt himself: he is Black, he is older, and he lacks the smooth talk of courtiers.

Othello demands proof he can see. The proof falls into Iago's hands by chance. Desdemona offers to bind Othello's aching head with her handkerchief, the first gift he gave her. He pushes it away and it drops. Emilia picks it up and gives it to Iago, who has often asked her to steal it. Iago plans to leave it in Cassio's room.

Iago then invents evidence. He claims he heard Cassio talk in his sleep about Desdemona, and that he saw Cassio wipe his beard with her handkerchief. Othello kneels and swears revenge. Iago kneels with him and swears to serve. Othello makes Iago his lieutenant and orders him to kill Cassio within three days.

Othello asks Desdemona for the handkerchief. He tells her it has magic in it: an Egyptian charmer gave it to his mother, and losing it would bring disaster. Desdemona, frightened, says it is not lost and changes the subject back to Cassio. Othello leaves in a rage. Cassio, meanwhile, has found the handkerchief in his room and asks Bianca to copy the embroidery.

Act 4: the trance and the willow song

Iago keeps up the pressure with crude images until Othello falls into a fit. When he recovers, Iago hides him where he can watch Cassio talk. Iago asks Cassio about Bianca, and Cassio laughs. Othello, too far away to hear, thinks Cassio is laughing about Desdemona. Then Bianca arrives and throws the handkerchief back at Cassio, angry that it came from another woman. For Othello, this is proof. He decides to kill his wife. Iago suggests that he strangle her in the bed she has contaminated, and Othello likes the justice of it.

Lodovico arrives from Venice with letters that recall Othello and make Cassio governor of Cyprus. When Desdemona says she is glad for Cassio, Othello strikes her in front of everyone. Lodovico is shocked that this is the noble general the Senate trusted.

Othello questions Emilia, who swears Desdemona is honest. He then treats his wife as a prostitute and his room as a brothel, and calls her a whore. Desdemona, stunned, asks Iago what she has done. Emilia guesses that some villain has slandered her mistress, without knowing she is describing her husband.

Roderigo complains that he has paid Iago and has nothing. Iago persuades him to kill Cassio that night.

Desdemona prepares for bed. She tells Emilia to lay the wedding sheets on the bed and sings the willow song, which her mother's maid sang as she died of a broken heart. The two women talk about whether wives deceive their husbands. Desdemona cannot believe any woman would. Emilia says she would, for the whole world, and argues that if wives fall, it is because husbands are unkind and unfaithful first.