Othello tale in composing "Othello", he departed from it in some details. Brabantio, Roderigo, and several minor characters are not found in Cinthio, for example, and Shakespeare's Emilia takes part in the handkerchief mischief while her counterpart in Cinthio does not. Unlike in "Othello", in Cinthio, the "Ensign" (the play's Iago) lusts after Desdemona and is spurred to revenge when she rejects him. Shakespeare's opening scenes are unique to his tragedy, as is the tender scene between Emilia and Desdemona as the lady prepares for bed. Shakespeare's most striking departure from Cinthio is the manner of his heroine's death. In Shakespeare,
Othello that opposition of Brabantio to Desdemona marrying Othello-a respected and honoured general-cannot make sense except in racial terms, citing the scene where Brabantio accuses Othello of using witchcraft to make his daughter fall in love with him, saying it is "unnatural" for Desdemona to desire Othello's "sooty bosom". Singh argued that since people with dark complexions are common in the Mediterranean area that for a Venetian senator like Brabantio to oppose Desdemona marrying Othello for merely being swarthy makes no sense, and that character of Othello was intended to be black. Michael Neill, editor of "The Oxford Shakespeare", notes that