Othello (character) Othello (character) Othello () is a character in Shakespeare's "Othello" (c. 1601–1604). The character's origin is traced to the tale "Un Capitano Moro" in "Gli Hecatommithi" by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor. Othello is a brave and competent soldier of advanced years and Moorish background in the service of the Venetian Republic. He elopes with Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of a respected Venetian senator. After being deployed to Cyprus, Othello is manipulated by his Ancient (pronounced Ensign) Iago into believing Desdemona is an adulteress. Othello murders her and, upon discovering Iago's deceit,
Othello Shakespearean plays that was never adapted and changed during the Restoration and the eighteenth century. As Shakespeare regained popularity among nineteenth-century French Romantics, poet, playwright, and novelist Alfred de Vigny created a French translation of "Othello", titled "Le More de Venise", which premiered at the Comédie-Française on 24 October 1829. Famous nineteenth-century Othellos included Ira Aldridge, Edmund Kean, Edwin Forrest, and Tommaso Salvini, and outstanding Iagos were Edwin Booth and Henry Irving. The most notable American production may be Margaret Webster's 1943 staging starring Paul Robeson as Othello and José Ferrer as Iago. This production was the first ever in