OthelloWilliam Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Othello, performed at court by 1604, is a tragedy of jealousy engineered by a single will. Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, has married Desdemona against her father's wishes. Iago, passed over for promotion in favor of Cassio, sets out to destroy them.

The method is suggestion. Iago plants the idea that Desdemona is unfaithful with Cassio, then feeds it with a stolen handkerchief, staged conversations, and Othello's own demand for "ocular proof." Othello, whose identity rests on service, honor, and the certainty of Desdemona's love, collapses into the jealousy Iago describes. He smothers Desdemona. Emilia exposes the plot. Othello kills himself. Iago is led away wounded and silent.

The play concentrates the tradition's questions about truth, love, and the corruption of judgment. Othello is neither a fool nor a monster at the start; he is a man who trusts the wrong reporter and cannot unhear what he has been told. Iago offers no full confession of motive. The damage is complete before the cause is clear. Later writers on marriage, race, and the passions answer the play because it shows how a lie, once believed, remakes the believer.