Shakespeare's Othello

Shakespeare's Othello

In the play, Iago cynically describes Venice as a place of moneybags, treachery, and promiscuity, and insinuates that a black man can never be other than an outsider. Playing upon Othello's sense of alienation, he suggests that Desdemona's choice of him was unnatural and thus temporary. (Calderwood, 1989)

Iago, an ensign assisting under Othello, Moorish commander of the equipped forces of Venice, was passed over in advancement when Othello chose Cassio to be his head of staff. In revenge, Iago and his follower, Roderigo, aroused from his doze Brabantio, member of the senate of Venice, to notify him that his ...