What is Othello?
{{italictitle}} [[File:Thomas W Keene in Othello 3h00058u.jpg|thumb|Poster, 1884]] '''''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice''''' is a [[tragedy]] written by [[William Shakespeare]] around 1603. It was first performed on [[1 November]] [[1604]] at [[Whitehall Palace]] in [[London]]. More recently, Othello was shown on Masterpiece Theater on [[PBS]]. The opera ''[[Otello (opera)|Otello]]'' of [[Giuseppe Verdi]] is based on this play. == Outline == At the start of the play Othello, a [[Moors|Moorish]] general in the army, promotes Cassio to [[What does Lieutenant mean|lieutenant]]. Iago, his ensign, is angry and jealous, so he plots against Cassio by making him look bad and making Othello uncertain about keeping him as his lieutenant. Some of the things he does are to get him drunk and to start a fight with someone else from the army. Iago also tells Othello that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him with Cassio. Cassio is demoted and Iago is promoted to lieutenant. Othello kills Desdemona and is then told by Iago's wife, Emilia, that Iago plotted against him. He goes after Iago, and injures him but does not kill him. Othello then kills himself next to his wife after saying sorry to Cassio for what he has done. == Characters of Othello == *Othello *Iago * Roderigo * Montano * Cassio * Brabantio * Desdemona * Bianca *Emilia {{William Shakespeare|state=collapsed}} [[Category:Plays by William Shakespeare]] [[Category:1600s plays]] {{lit-stub}}