Iago Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's "Othello" (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hates Othello and devises a plan to destroy him by making him believe that his wife is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio. The role is thought to have been first played by Robert Armin, who typically played intelligent clown roles like Touchstone in "As You Like It" or Feste in "Twelfth Night". The character's source is traced to Giovanni
Othello in popular culture Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice" (1952), produced as a black-and-white film noir. The film stars Welles as Othello and Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona. The troubled production was filmed over the course of three years as Welles' time and money permitted, in Mogador, Morocco and Venice. Lack of funds (and costumes) forced Roderigo's death scene to be shot in a Turkish bath with performers wearing only large, ragged towels. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. Rather than focusing on racial disparity, the film plays on a difference between Desdemona and Othello in age,