Othello is a character in
Shakespeare's
Othello (c.1601-1604). The character's origin is traced to the tale, "Un Capitano Moro" in
Gli Hecatommithi by
Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor.
Othello is a brave and competent soldier of advanced years and
Moorish background in the service of the Venetian Republic. He elopes with
Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of a respected Venetian senator. After being deployed to Cyprus, Othello is manipulated by his ensign,
Iago, into believing Desdemona is an adultress. Othello murders her before killing himself.
Othello was first mentioned in a Revels account of 1604 when the play was performed on 1 November at
Whitehall Palace with
Richard Burbage almost certainly Othello's first interpreter. Modern notable performers of the role include
Paul Robeson,
Orson Welles,
Richard Burton,
James Earl Jones, and
Laurence Olivier.
Source
Othello has its source in the 1565 tale, "Un Capitano Moro" from
Gli Hecatommithi by
Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in Shakespeare's lifetime, it is probable that Shakespeare knew both the Italian original and Gabriel Chappuy's 1584 French translation. Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508.
[1] It also resembles an incident described in the earlier tale of "
The Three Apples", one of the stories narrated in the
One Thousand and One Nights (
Arabian Nights).
[2] Disdemona is the only named character in Cinthio's tale with his other characters identified as the Moor, the squadron leader, the ensign, and the ensign's wife.
While Shakespeare closely followed Cinthio's tale in composing
Othello, he departed from it in some details, particularly in the tale's depiction of Desdemona's death. In Cinthio, the Moor commissions his ensign to bludgeon Disdemona to death with a sand-filled stocking. In gruesome detail, Cinthio follows each blow, and, when the lady is dead, the Moor and his ensign place her lifeless body upon her bed, smash her skull, and then cause the cracked ceiling above the bed to collapse upon her, giving the impression the falling rafters caused her death.
The two murderers escape detection. The Moor then misses his wife greatly, and comes to loathe the sight of his ensign. He demotes him, and refuses to have him in his company. The ensign then seeks revenge by disclosing to the "the squadron leader" (the tale's Cassio counterpart), the Moor's involvement in Desdemona's death. The two men denounce the Moor to the Venetian Seignory. The Moor is arrested, transported from Cyprus to Venice, and tortured, but refuses to admit his guilt. He is condemned to exile; Disdemona's relatives eventually put him to death. The ensign escapes any prosecution in Disdemona's death but engages in other crimes and dies after being tortured.
[3] [Role in Othello
He is an
African Moor living in
Venice, and a general in the
Venetian Army. His servant
Iago tricks him into believing that his wife
Desdemona is having an affair with one of his soldiers,
Michael Cassio. He kills his wife out of jealousy, only to realize that his wife was faithful, at which point he commits
suicide. Several scholars have taken note of Othello's African race, pointing out the way in which it is portrayed in the play.
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