Othello The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately It is based on the Italian short story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; his new wife, Desdemona; his lieutenant, Cassio; and his trusted ensign, Iago. Because of its varied and current themes of racism, love, jealousy and betrayal, Othello is still often performed in professional and community theatres alike and has been the basis for numerous operatic, film and literary adaptations

Summary Othello is a black soldier who starts out the novel being accused of stealing his soon- to-be wife Desdemona. However, Desdemona loves Othello very much and the two are to be married much to the dissatisfaction of Desdemona's father. Iago, Othello's right hand man, is angered at the fact that Othello picked a man by the name of Cassio to be more important to him. Iago comes up with a plan to bring down Othello but eventually leads into the downfall of most of the characters. During a fight, Cassio is striped of his lieutenant markings and has to try to please Othello. Because Othello does not care anymore, he goes to Desdemona to seek help. Iago uses the meeting between Cassio and Desdemona against them and tries to make Othello believe that they are seeing each other. Iago plants a handkerchief in Cassio's room and begins to tell Othello about what he has "seen" Cassio do. Othello becomes increasingly jealous throughout the story and eventually comes to a boiling point when he believes Cassio to be talking about his wife. Othello and Iago come up with a plan to kill Cassio and Desdemona. As Othello tries to kill Desdemona, Emilia who is Iago's wife comes in and tells Othello the truth about Iago. However, it is to late and Desdemona dies. When Othello confronts Iago, the villian kills his own wife and tries to run but is captured by some guards. Othello then proceeds to kill himself because of all the horrible doings that he has done.

 Themes Appearance vs. reality Especially relevant to the issue of Iago's character; for although he is called "honest" by almost everyone in the play, he is treacherous, deceitful, and manipulative. Also applies to Desdemona, as Othello believes that she is deceitful and impure, although she is really blameless and innocent.

Race Race is an extremely important theme; it has a great amount of influence on how people regard Othello ‹for those who distrust black people merely on looks never like Othello, like Iago. Race also determines how Othello perceives himself as a rough outsider, though he is nothing of the sort. Othello's race sets him apart, and makes him very self-conscious; it makes him work hard and look carefully after his reputation, so he is regarded as equal to the white people that surround him.

How are blacks perceived now?

 Self-knowledge  Othello's lack of self-knowledge makes him easy prey for Iago. Once Iago inflames Othello's jealousy and gets the darker aspects of Othello's nature into action, there is nothing Othello can do to stop it, since he cannot even admit that he has these darker traits.

The main characteristics of Shakespearean tragedy are as follow: Shakespearean tragedy is mostly the story of one person, the hero or the protagonist who is always a person of high degree. The hero is an exceptional person. The suffering and the calamity that he goes through are therefore extraordianry. The suffering and calamity frequently with the hero’s previous happiness and glory. Tragic heroes display one-sidedness, a predisposition in one particular direction or an obsessivenes of thought or action. Fate or destiny places the protagonist in difficult circumstances and situations which he is incapable of dealing. Some abnormal conditions of mind as insanity and hallucinations affect human deeds (especially in Hamlet and Macbeth). Conflict is an important element in Shakespearean tragedy.