‘Othello, in full ‘Othello, the Moor of Venice’, tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written in 1603–1604 and published in 1622.
The play derives its plot from ‘Giambattista Giraldi’s De gli Hecatommithi’ (1565), which Shakespeare appears to have known in the Italian original.
The play is set in motion when Othello, a heroic black general in the service of Venice, appoints Cassio and not Iago as his chief lieutenant. Jealous of Othello’s success and envious of Cassio, Iago plots Othello’s downfall by falsely implicating Othello’s wife, Desdemona, and Cassio in a love affair. With the unwitting aid of Emilia, his wife, and the willing help of Roderigo, a fellow malcontent, Iago carries out his plan.
The themes in ‘Othello’ are linked with individual characters ranging from hatred to love, jealousy to revenge, service to betrayal, and innocence to guilty. Major themes in ‘Othello’ are love, jealousy, racial prejudice, appearance versus reality, expectations versus outcome and intrigue.
