When was Othello made?

Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story 'Un Capitano Moro' ('A Moorish Captain') by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565.

What time period was Othello written in?

Othello, in full Othello, the Moor of Venice, tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written in 1603–04 and published in 1622 in a quarto edition from a transcript of an authorial manuscript.

Is Othello a real story?

That Othello and Desdemona, whose real name was Palma, really existed, is clearly proved. Even the mad jealousy of Othello is historical. It is true that he did not murder his wife, but he often beat her cruelly.

Is Othello black or white?

Virginia Mason Vaughan suggests that the racial identity of the character of Othello fits more clearly as a man from Sub-Saharan Africa than from North Africa (Barbary), as north Africans were more easily accepted into society.

What is Shakespeare's longest play?

The longest play is Hamlet, which is the only Shakespeare play with more than thirty thousand words, and the shortest is The Comedy of Errors, which is the only play with fewer than fifteen thousand words. Shakespeare's 37 plays have an average word count of 22.6 thousand words per play.

They Really Did That to Othello - Key

How old is Othello in the play?

My guess would be that Othello's somewhere between 30-40, maybe late thirties. Desdemona is probably about 18-22, old enough to get married on her own and have had some suitors. But another thing that's interesting about this age gap is the literary tradition that Shakespeare is drawing on.

What race was Othello?

"Shakespeare meant Othello to be a Black Moor from Africa, an African of the highest nobility of heritage. From Kean on, Othello was made a light-skinned Moor because the West had since made Africa a slave center and the African was pictured only as a slave.”

Why William Shakespeare wrote Othello?

So what actually inspired Shakespeare into writing Othello? Shakespeare was a chronicle at that time and Venice was an important trading post and link between Europe and the East. That's why Shakespeare may have chosen to set the play in Venice.

What was Shakespeare's purpose for writing Othello?

Shakespeare uses his play ''Othello'' as an allegory for social commentary on Elizabethan England, including the roles of women and marriage in society. Explore how these themes are portrayed by the characters Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca.

What genre is Othello?

Othello is a tragedy because it tells the story of a noble, principled hero who makes a tragic error of judgment, leading to a devastating climax in which most of the characters end up either dead or seriously wounded.

Why is Othello called Othello?

The name was selected by Hasegawa as a reference to the Shakespearean play Othello, the Moor of Venice, referring to the conflict between the Moor Othello and Iago, and more controversially, to the unfolding drama between Othello, who is black, and Desdemona, who is white.

Who was the first black actor to play Othello?

But paving the way for those acting legends nearly 200 years ago was Ira Aldridge, the first black actor to breathe life into the Othello role.

Is Othello a love story?

The story begins in Venece, where love story turns into tragedy when beautiful, young lady Desdemona fell in love with a general in the Venetian army named Othello.

What age is Iago?

Iago, the great deceiver of Othello, is 28 according to Shakespeare – but actors have a habit of tweaking the lines ...

Is there any clown in Othello?

While many of Shakespeare's professional fools have names and fully developed characters, the clown of Othello is just that, a clown. He appears only twice (in the first and last scenes of Act III) and delivers a total of fourteen lines.

What is the shortest Shakespeare play?

The Comedy of Errors, with 1,898 lines (as per the Folger Shakespeare Edition; other editions may count lines differently).

What is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy?

Shakespeare's shortest and bloodiest tragedy, Macbeth tells the story of a brave Scottish general (Macbeth) who receives a prophecy from a trio of sinister witches that one day he will become king of Scotland.

What words did Shakespeare invent?

Can a white actor play Othello?

Racial prejudice has allowed white actors to play Othello well into the 20th century. David Harewood discusses Larry Olivier's performance in 1964.

Is Othello North Africa?

Although Othello is a Moor, and although we often assume he is from Africa, he never names his birthplace in the play. In Shakespeare's time, Moors could be from Africa, but they could also be from the Middle East, or even Spain. American actor John Edward McCullough as Othello in 1878.

Is Desdemona white?

Desdemona is a beautiful, young, white, Venetian debutante. And she's a total Daddy's girl... until she falls head over heels in love with Othello. She refuses to marry any of the rich, handsome Venetian men that everyone expects her to marry.