Othello is one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies and was written, in 1603, at the full height of his powers as a dramatist. The play has provoked strong emotions over the years and has been staged on many occasions. Controversy, on the stage, has focused on the central figure of Othello, a black man, and the differing ways in which he has been represented.

Although there have been suggestions that Othello, who is described as a Moor (i.e. a person from Morocco or some other part of northern Africa), is not as different from Europeans in terms of both skin colour and culture, there is little doubt that Shakespeare writes him as a man who stands apart from his neighbours. He is clearly described as a large and powerful man, highly potent sexually and familiar with the exotic and colourful parts of the world. In more modern terms, he would be described as a representative of ‘the Other,’ that is the counterpart or complement to the remaining characters for whom he acts as a kind of mirror in which they can see themselves in opposition. The tragedy of the play stems from the fact that when the characters look into this mirror, they see their own inadequacies brought into sharp relief and, rather than aspire to improve themselves, instead resolve to bring down the noble Othello.

The plot concerns the events surrounding the marriage of the great general Othello to Desdemona, daughter of Brabantio. Desdemona is a pure, loving and virtuous young woman; Brabantio is a senator in Venice, where the action takes place and is only reluctantly accepting of Othello. Opposed to Othello is Iago, who secretly plots to bring about his ruin and, this being a tragedy, is the instrument by which the stage is littered with bodies by the ending of the fifth act. Iago is a demonic figure whose hatred of Othello is far beyond its alleged cause: Othello had apparently promoted someone into the position he anticipated was going to be his. It is understandable that Iago might feel hard done by, but using this as a pretext for causing incredible suffering and death is not the act of a rational individual. Even so, Iago is clever and resourceful and, since evil tends to be more interesting in art than virtue, he is one of the most fascinating of Shakespeare’s secondary characters.

Using his wife Emilia, who is Desdemona’s maid, Iago introduces a spotted handkerchief into the possession of Cassio, thereby inducing Othello to suspect that he and Desdemona are intimate – the handkerchief is described as being like a ‘strawberry,’ with the implication of blood and a connection to Desdemona’s virginity. Othello is slow to turn to jealousy but, once he has done so, his wrath is elemental and uncontrollable. The fates of the main characters are, therefore, sealed.