Othello

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Act 1, scene 1 In the streets of Venice, Iago tells Roderigo of his hatred for Othello, who has given Cassio the lieutenancy that Iago wanted and has made Iago a mere ensign. At Iago’s suggestion, he and Roderigo, a former suitor to Desdemona, awake Desdemona’s father to tell him that Desdemona has eloped with Othello. This news enrages Brabantio, who organizes an armed band to search out Othello. The daughter of the Venetian senator Brabanzio. Desdemona and Othello are secretly married before the play begins. While in many ways stereotypically pure and meek, Desdemona is also determined and self-possessed. She is equally capable of defending her marriage, jesting bawdily with Iago, and responding with dignity to Othello’s incomprehensible jealousy. Q has 63 oaths or profanities which do not appear in F, suggesting the possibility that F was based on a manuscript which had been edited to conform with the 1606 Act of Abuses. [48]

Iago is ecstatic when Emilia gives him the handkerchief, which he plants in Cassio’s room as “evidence” of his affair with Desdemona. When Othello demands “ocular proof” (III.iii. 365) that his wife is unfaithful, Iago says that he has seen Cassio “wipe his beard” (III.iii. 444) with Desdemona’s handkerchief—the first gift Othello ever gave her. Othello vows to take vengeance on his wife and on Cassio, and Iago vows that he will help him. When Othello sees Desdemona later that evening, he demands the handkerchief of her, but she tells him that she does not have it with her and attempts to change the subject by continuing her suit on Cassio’s behalf. This drives Othello into a further rage, and he storms out. Later, Cassio comes onstage, wondering about the handkerchief he has just found in his chamber. He is greeted by Bianca, a prostitute, whom he asks to take the handkerchief and copy its embroidery for him.This famous quote made my 14-year-old son, reading Othello for the first time (it was his first Shakespeare ever), come into my room to complain. He was deeply frustrated with the sweet tongue of the evil Iago, speaking in one way and acting in another, spreading fake news and rumours while pretending to be supportive and unselfish. Orgel, Stephen "Introduction" in Sutherland, John and Watts, Cedric (eds.) "Henry V, War Criminal? & Other Shakespeare Puzzles" Oxford World's Classics series, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.ix-xvi at p.xi. Part of the explosion of the Romantic movement in France was a fashion for re-writing English plays as melodrama, including Alfred de Vigny's 1829 Othello adaptation Le More de Venise. [292]

It is based on the story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565.

Buhler, Stephen M., "Musical Shakespeares: Attending to Ophelia, Juliet, and Desdemona" in Shaughnessy, Robert (ed.) "The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture", Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp.150–174, at pp.171–172. In an attempt at reconciliation, Cassio sends some musicians to play beneath Othello’s window. Othello, however, sends his clown to tell the musicians to go away. Hoping to arrange a meeting with Desdemona, Cassio asks the clown, a peasant who serves Othello, to send Emilia to him. After the clown departs, Iago passes by and tells Cassio that he will get Othello out of the way so that Cassio can speak privately with Desdemona. Othello, Iago, and a gentleman go to examine some of the town’s fortifications.

Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Officers DUKE OF VENICE Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you 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. Brabanzio’s kinsman who accompanies Lodovico to Cyprus. Amidst the chaos of the final scene, Graziano mentions that Desdemona’s father has died. Clown Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen produced an intercultural version of the play in 2000: his Desdemona featured actors, musicians, designers and artists from India, Korea, Myanmar, Indonesia and Singapore, performing in a range of different traditional Asian styles. [241] Lamb, Charles and Lamb, Mary "Tales from Shakespeare", 1807, Penguin Popular Classics edition, 1995, p.281.

Suitability

Not only Othello, but also Iago is consumed by jealousy: his is a kind of envy, which contemporary scholar Francis Bacon called "the vilest affection, and the most depraved; for which cause, it is the proper attribute of the Devil... As it always cometh to pass, that envy worketh subtilly, and in the dark; and to the prejudice of good things." [64]