![]() However, Iago knows some hard evidence will be necessary because Othello isn’t going to go off the rails without at least some circumstantial evidence. He plants sees but lets other do the obvious work of tending. ![]() This keeps Iago’s own motivation from being made clear because it seems like he’s just trying to do the right thing. Like an evil genius, Iago plays it subtle – a reluctant accuser. The twin prongs of the plot are: first, get Cassio to ask Desdemona to smooth things over with Othello about the drunkenness (which will make it look like Desdemona has a more intense interest in Cassio than she actually does,) and second, subtly start planting the notion in Othello’s mind that he should keep and eye on Cassio. So, while Othello’s virtuous nature seems to create a blind spot of Iago’s duplicity, the villainous Iago appears to suspect imagined treachery everywhere – including the possibility that Othello is bi-backed beasting Emilia ) (Iago’s wife, Emilia, is Desdemona’s attendant and bestie. This ploy sets up a two-pronged plan by which Iago intends to wreck the marriage of Othello and Desdemona. Cassio loses favor with Othello when the Moor finds him drunk. ![]() Cassio is on Iago’s blacklist, because Iago thinks the Moor should have granted him a post that was instead given Cassio. Not one to give up easily, Iago advances his treachery while deployed by getting Othello’s right-hand man (Cassio) drunk. As it turns out, Othello is being deployed to a military action by the Duke. Iago’s initial plot peters out here because Brabantio has always respected Othello. Desdemona is summoned, and she confirms this to be true. ![]() The play opens with a furor that is created when Desdemona’s father (Brabantio) is informed by Iago (and Rodrigo) that Desdemona has been “making the beast with two backs” with Othello (still one of my favorite euphemisms for intercourse.) In the court of the Duke, Othello is accused of defiling Desdemona, but the Moor claims that he and Desdemona are legally wed, having eloped and married. In fact, it could be argued that Othello’s virtuous nature blinds him Iago’s duplicity. Unlike Ford from “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Othello isn’t particularly jealous by nature, but he’s masterfully manipulated by one of Shakespeare’s most famously treacherous villains, Iago. Othello is a Moorish military commander, well regarded for his prowess in battle. In a concluding essay, Harold Bloom engages our attraction to both power and tragedy in his discussion of Iago, Shakespeare's "radical invention.“Othello” is Shakespeare’s tragic take on a plot device he uses in comedies such as “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Cymbeline,” and “The Winter’s Tale.” It’s the story of a jealous husband who falsely accuses his virtuous wife of infidelity. In his introduction, Raffel delves into the interpretive disagreement over Othello's origins and provides an analysis of the characters Desdemona and Iago. His on-page annotations give readers all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary, pronunciation, and prosody and provides alternative readings of phrases and lines. This extensively annotated version of Othello makes the play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. If in Iago Shakespeare created the most compelling villain in Western literature, in Othello and Desdemona he gave us our most tragic and unforgettable lovers. get Yale’s red-carpet treatment."- Library Journal One of the most powerful dramas ever written for the stage, Othello is a story of revenge, illusion, passion, mistrust, jealousy, and murder. The Annotated Shakespeare Series allows readers to fully understand and enjoy the rich plays of the world’s greatest dramatist "A drama.
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