Othello and Iago in William Shakespeare's Play

Othello and Iago in William Shakespeare's Play

William Shakespeare was born on 1594, in Stratford upon Avon on 23rd

April. His father was john Shakespeare and his mother was Mary Arden.

His parents lost two children before William was born; they had five

who all died young. In November 1582, he married Anne Hathaway.

William was 18 and Anne was 26. There first born child was Susana. Two

years later they had twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died in 1596

aged 11. Shakespeare died aged 52, on 23rd April 1616. His widow Anne

died in 1623 and was buried beside him.

Shakespeare wrote comedy, history, tragedy and poetry. In 1954, on

average Shakespeare wrote 2 plays a year. His success in London made

him very wealthy. The king then decided to sponsor his theatre company

so they renamed it "The king's men."

Othello is a tragedy about a black man who is betrayed by what he

thought was his friend, his name was Iago. Othello thought he had a

love of his life called Desdemona but Iago deceives him in to thinking

she was having an affair with Othello's ex-lieutenant. Othello then

decides to kill her and then realises that she had done nothing wrong

and then kills himself.

Othello is mainly set in the city-state of Venice. By the end of the

14th century Venice had the largest population of the middle ages. So

by the 1600's Venice was known to be a very important city-state.

Venice was famous as an important Mediterranean trading centre for

goods from the Far East. Silks, spices, jewels and other expensive

item were bought and sold there including slaves. It had the

reputation of being full of fashion and culture. It would have been

exotic location for an Elizabethan audience. Because of Venice's

position for centre of trade it was full od people of many different

nationalities, religions and races.

At the beginning of the play Othello does not appear to be jealous. We

believe that Othello is an intelligent solider. It does not go into