1. By the Bard

2. 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.

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

4. 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.

5.  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

6. 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

7. 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

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