By the Bard

As usual…just an idea he adopted  The plot of Shakespeare's Othello is largely taken from Giraldi Cinthio's Gli Hecatommithi, a tale of love, jealousy, and betrayal However, the characters, themes, and attitudes of the works are vastly different, with Shakespeare's play being a more involved study of human nature and psychology.

Setting  Begins in Venice, Italy and transitions to the island of Cyprus  Printed in 1622

Background Info Othello also touches upon a major issue in Europe of this time period The intermingling of Muslim religion and culture with the West Racial issues abounded during this time period.

 Othello is considered to be a prime example of Aristotelian drama (Tragic Hero’s downfall due to hubris, etc.) It focuses upon a very small cast of characters, one of the smallest used in Shakespeare, has few distractions from the main plot arc, and concentrates on just a few themes, like jealousy Background Info

Iago  The character of Iago is a variation on the Vice figure found in earlier morality plays He deviates from this model because of his lack of a clear motivation

Why is it so popular?  One reason for the overwhelming popularity of the play throughout the ages is that it focuses on two people who defied society in order to follow their own hearts

Themes  Appearance vs. reality  Race  Pride  Magic  Order vs. chaos  Good vs. evil  Honesty  Self-knowledge