Othello - Shakespeare, William

William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, William

Category: Literature

Tags: Literature

In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual devotion and that ends precipitately with jealous rage and violent deaths. He sets this story in the romantic world of the Mediterranean, moving the action from Venice to the island of Cyprus and giving it an even more exotic coloring with stories of Othellos African past. Shakespeare builds so many differences into his hero and heroinedifferences of race, of age, of cultural backgroundthat one should not, perhaps, be surprised that the marriage ends disastrously. But most people who see or read the play feel that the love that the play presents between Othello and Desdemona is so strong that it would have overcome all these differences were it not for the words and actions of Othellos standard-bearer, Iago, who hates Othello and sets out to destroy him by destroying his love for Desdemona.