Othello Shakespeare

About Othello. The New York Theater Workshop’s production of Othello, starring Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo, and directed by Tony award-winning director Sam Gold, opened in November 2016. This production was sponsored in part by The Pelican Shakespeare series and Penguin Classics.

\'Othello and Desdemona in Venice\' by (1819–56)Created byInformationAliasThe MoorSpouseOthello ( ) is a character in \'s (c. The character\'s origin is traced to the tale \'Un Capitano Moro\' in Gli Hecatommithi. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor.Othello is a brave and competent soldier of advanced years and background in the service of the.

He elopes with, the beautiful daughter of a respected Venetian senator. After being deployed to Cyprus, Othello is manipulated by his Ancient (pronounced ) into believing Desdemona is an adulteress. Othello murders her and, upon discovering Iago\'s deceit, kills himself.Othello was first mentioned in a Revels account of 1604 when the play was performed on 1 November at with almost certainly Othello\'s first interpreter.

Modern notable performers of the role include,. \'Othello and Desdemona\' by, 1829Othello has its source in the 1565 tale \'Un Capitano Moro\' from Gli Hecatommithi. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in Shakespeare\'s lifetime, it is probable that Shakespeare knew both the Italian original and Gabriel Chappuy\'s 1584 French translation. Cinthio\'s tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508.

It also resembles an incident described in the earlier tale of \', one of the stories narrated in the ( Arabian Nights). Desdemona is the only named character in Cinthio\'s tale, his other characters being identified as the Moor, the squadron leader, the ensign, and the ensign\'s wife.While Shakespeare closely followed Cinthio\'s tale in composing Othello, he departed from it in some details, particularly in the tale\'s depiction of Desdemona\'s death.

In Cinthio, the Moor commissions his ensign to bludgeon Desdemona to death with a sand-filled stocking. In gruesome detail, Cinthio follows each blow, and, when the lady is dead, the Moor and his ensign place her lifeless body upon her bed, smash her skull, and then cause the cracked ceiling above the bed to collapse upon her, giving the impression the falling rafters caused her death.

The two murderers escape detection. The Moor then misses his wife greatly, and comes to loathe the sight of his ensign. He demotes him, and refuses to have him in his company. The ensign then seeks revenge by disclosing to \'the squadron leader\' (the tale\'s Cassio counterpart), the Moor\'s involvement in Desdemona\'s death. The two men denounce the Moor to the Venetian Seignory.

The Moor is arrested, transported from Cyprus to Venice, and tortured, but refuses to admit his guilt. He is condemned to exile; Desdemona\'s relatives eventually put him to death. The ensign escapes any prosecution in Desdemona\'s death but engages in other crimes and dies after being tortured. Portrait possibly of, another possible inspiration for OthelloThere is no consensus over Othello\'s race. Honigmann, the editor of the edition concluded that Othello\'s race is ambiguous. \'Renaissance representations of the Moor were vague, varied, inconsistent, and contradictory. As critics have established, the term \'Moor\' referred to dark-skinned people in general, used interchangeably with similarly ambiguous terms as \'African\', \'Ethiopian\' and even \'Indian\' to designate a figure from Africa (or beyond).

Various uses of the word \'black\' (for example, \'Haply for I am black\') are insufficient evidence for any accurate racial classification, Honigmann argues, since \'black\' could simply mean \'swarthy\' to Elizabethans. In 1911, James Welton argued more evidence points to him being Sub-Saharan, though Shakespeare\'s intention is unknown. He cites \'s description of Othello\'s \'sooty bosom,\' a racial stereotype during this time, and Othello\'s contrast between his \'begrimed\' features and purity of the goddess. He argues that interpretations attempting to change Othello from \'black to brown\' were due to racial prejudice during and notes that Othello is described using similar language to Aaron in. Virginia Mason Vaughan suggests that the racial identity of the character of Othello fit more clearly as a man from than from North Africa (Barbary) as north Africans were more easily accepted into society.

She states that by 1604, accounts of Othello as deriving from farther south were not uncommon. She notes Roderigo\'s description of Othello having \'thick lips\' was a racial stereotype used by 16th century explorers for southern Africans. Modern-day readers and theatre directors lean away from a North African Moorish interpretation but Shakespeare\'s textual references are unclear. Iago twice uses the word \'Barbary\' or \'Barbarian\' to refer to Othello, seemingly referring to the coast inhabited by the \'tawny\' Moors. Roderigo calls Othello \'the thicklips\', which seems to refer to European conceptions of Sub-Saharan African physiognomy, but Honigmann counters that, as these comments are all intended as insults by the characters, they need not be taken literally.Michael Neill, editor of the edition, notes that the earliest critical references to Othello\'s colour, (\'s 1693 critique of the play, and the 1709 engraving in \'s edition of Shakespeare), assume him to be a black man, while the earliest known North African interpretation was not until \'s production of 1814. It has been suggested that, Moorish ambassador of the King of Barbary to in 1600, may have been an inspiration for Othello.

He stayed with his retinue in London for several months and occasioned much discussion, and thus might have inspired Shakespeare\'s play, written only a few years afterwards. The exact date that Othello was written is unknown, though sources indicate that it was written between 1601 and 1610, sometime after the Moorish delegation. However, Honigmann questions the view that ben Messaoud inspired Othello. Othello and Iago (1901)Othello is referred to as a \'Barbary horse\' (1.1.113), a \'lascivious Moor\' (1.1.127), and \'the devil\' (1.1.91). In III.III he denounces Desdemona\'s supposed sin as being \'black as mine own face\'. Desdemona\'s physical whiteness is otherwise presented in opposition to Othello\'s dark skin; V.II \'that whiter skin of hers than snow\'. Iago tells Brabantio that \'an old black ram / is tupping your white ewe\' (1.1.88).

In Elizabethan discourse, the word \'black\' could suggest various concepts that extended beyond the physical colour of skin, including a wide range of negative connotations.pioneered the prominence of black actors in the role, beginning in 1825 in London. Othello was also frequently performed as an Arab Moor during the 19th century.

In the past, Othello would often have been portrayed by a white actor in. Black American actor played the role from 1930 to 1959. Recent actors who chose to \'blacken up\' include Laurence Olivier (1965) and Orson Welles. Black English actor, known for his roles in and, played Othello on stage in 2004.

Since the 1960s it has become commonplace to cast a black actor in the character of Othello, although the casting of the role now can come with a political subtext. Took the role in the \'s 1997 staging of the play and Thomas Thieme, also white, played Othello in a 2007 staging at the; both played without blackface, their performances critically acclaimed.

20th-century Othellos. And (1943)The most notable American production may be \'s 1943 staging starring as Othello and as Iago. This production was the first ever in America to feature a black actor playing Othello with an otherwise all-white cast (there had been all-black productions of the play before). It ran for 296 performances, almost twice as long as any other Shakespearean play ever produced on.

Although it was never filmed, it was the first nearly complete performance of a Shakespeare play released on records. Robeson played Othello in three separate productions between 1930 and 1959. He first played it opposite a cast that included as Desdemona and as Roderigo, and would return to it in 1959 at.The American actor performed the title role in at least six productions. His Othello was called by of the London \'the best Othello of our time,\' continuing: \'nobler than, more martial than, more poetic than.

From his first entry, slender and magnificently tall, framed in a high Byzantine arch, clad in white samite, mystic, wonderful, a figure of Arabian romance and grace, to his last plunging of the knife into his stomach, Mr Marshall rode without faltering the play\'s enormous rhetoric, and at the end the house rose to him.\' Marshall also played Othello in a jazz musical version, Catch My Soul, with as Iago, in Los Angeles in 1968. His Othello was captured on record in 1964 with as Iago and on video in 1981 with as Iago. The 1982 staging starred as Othello and as Iago.

Shakespeare, William. Four Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. Bantam Books, 1988. Young, John G., M.D. Adventures in Creativity: Multimedia Magazine. Archived from on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.

Bevington, David and Kate, translators. \'Un Capitano Moro\' in Four Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. Bantam Books, 1988.

Virginia Mason Vaughan, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 59.

About Othello. The New York Theater Workshop’s production of Othello, starring Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo, and directed by Tony award-winning director Sam Gold, opened in November 2016. This production was sponsored in part by The Pelican Shakespeare series and Penguin Classics.

\'Othello and Desdemona in Venice\' by (1819–56)Created byInformationAliasThe MoorSpouseOthello ( ) is a character in \'s (c. The character\'s origin is traced to the tale \'Un Capitano Moro\' in Gli Hecatommithi. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor.Othello is a brave and competent soldier of advanced years and background in the service of the.

He elopes with, the beautiful daughter of a respected Venetian senator. After being deployed to Cyprus, Othello is manipulated by his Ancient (pronounced ) into believing Desdemona is an adulteress. Othello murders her and, upon discovering Iago\'s deceit, kills himself.Othello was first mentioned in a Revels account of 1604 when the play was performed on 1 November at with almost certainly Othello\'s first interpreter.

Modern notable performers of the role include,. \'Othello and Desdemona\' by, 1829Othello has its source in the 1565 tale \'Un Capitano Moro\' from Gli Hecatommithi. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in Shakespeare\'s lifetime, it is probable that Shakespeare knew both the Italian original and Gabriel Chappuy\'s 1584 French translation. Cinthio\'s tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508.

It also resembles an incident described in the earlier tale of \', one of the stories narrated in the ( Arabian Nights). Desdemona is the only named character in Cinthio\'s tale, his other characters being identified as the Moor, the squadron leader, the ensign, and the ensign\'s wife.While Shakespeare closely followed Cinthio\'s tale in composing Othello, he departed from it in some details, particularly in the tale\'s depiction of Desdemona\'s death.

In Cinthio, the Moor commissions his ensign to bludgeon Desdemona to death with a sand-filled stocking. In gruesome detail, Cinthio follows each blow, and, when the lady is dead, the Moor and his ensign place her lifeless body upon her bed, smash her skull, and then cause the cracked ceiling above the bed to collapse upon her, giving the impression the falling rafters caused her death.

The two murderers escape detection. The Moor then misses his wife greatly, and comes to loathe the sight of his ensign. He demotes him, and refuses to have him in his company. The ensign then seeks revenge by disclosing to \'the squadron leader\' (the tale\'s Cassio counterpart), the Moor\'s involvement in Desdemona\'s death. The two men denounce the Moor to the Venetian Seignory.

The Moor is arrested, transported from Cyprus to Venice, and tortured, but refuses to admit his guilt. He is condemned to exile; Desdemona\'s relatives eventually put him to death. The ensign escapes any prosecution in Desdemona\'s death but engages in other crimes and dies after being tortured. Portrait possibly of, another possible inspiration for OthelloThere is no consensus over Othello\'s race. Honigmann, the editor of the edition concluded that Othello\'s race is ambiguous. \'Renaissance representations of the Moor were vague, varied, inconsistent, and contradictory. As critics have established, the term \'Moor\' referred to dark-skinned people in general, used interchangeably with similarly ambiguous terms as \'African\', \'Ethiopian\' and even \'Indian\' to designate a figure from Africa (or beyond).

Various uses of the word \'black\' (for example, \'Haply for I am black\') are insufficient evidence for any accurate racial classification, Honigmann argues, since \'black\' could simply mean \'swarthy\' to Elizabethans. In 1911, James Welton argued more evidence points to him being Sub-Saharan, though Shakespeare\'s intention is unknown. He cites \'s description of Othello\'s \'sooty bosom,\' a racial stereotype during this time, and Othello\'s contrast between his \'begrimed\' features and purity of the goddess. He argues that interpretations attempting to change Othello from \'black to brown\' were due to racial prejudice during and notes that Othello is described using similar language to Aaron in. Virginia Mason Vaughan suggests that the racial identity of the character of Othello fit more clearly as a man from than from North Africa (Barbary) as north Africans were more easily accepted into society.

She states that by 1604, accounts of Othello as deriving from farther south were not uncommon. She notes Roderigo\'s description of Othello having \'thick lips\' was a racial stereotype used by 16th century explorers for southern Africans. Modern-day readers and theatre directors lean away from a North African Moorish interpretation but Shakespeare\'s textual references are unclear. Iago twice uses the word \'Barbary\' or \'Barbarian\' to refer to Othello, seemingly referring to the coast inhabited by the \'tawny\' Moors. Roderigo calls Othello \'the thicklips\', which seems to refer to European conceptions of Sub-Saharan African physiognomy, but Honigmann counters that, as these comments are all intended as insults by the characters, they need not be taken literally.Michael Neill, editor of the edition, notes that the earliest critical references to Othello\'s colour, (\'s 1693 critique of the play, and the 1709 engraving in \'s edition of Shakespeare), assume him to be a black man, while the earliest known North African interpretation was not until \'s production of 1814. It has been suggested that, Moorish ambassador of the King of Barbary to in 1600, may have been an inspiration for Othello.

He stayed with his retinue in London for several months and occasioned much discussion, and thus might have inspired Shakespeare\'s play, written only a few years afterwards. The exact date that Othello was written is unknown, though sources indicate that it was written between 1601 and 1610, sometime after the Moorish delegation. However, Honigmann questions the view that ben Messaoud inspired Othello. Othello and Iago (1901)Othello is referred to as a \'Barbary horse\' (1.1.113), a \'lascivious Moor\' (1.1.127), and \'the devil\' (1.1.91). In III.III he denounces Desdemona\'s supposed sin as being \'black as mine own face\'. Desdemona\'s physical whiteness is otherwise presented in opposition to Othello\'s dark skin; V.II \'that whiter skin of hers than snow\'. Iago tells Brabantio that \'an old black ram / is tupping your white ewe\' (1.1.88).

In Elizabethan discourse, the word \'black\' could suggest various concepts that extended beyond the physical colour of skin, including a wide range of negative connotations.pioneered the prominence of black actors in the role, beginning in 1825 in London. Othello was also frequently performed as an Arab Moor during the 19th century.

In the past, Othello would often have been portrayed by a white actor in. Black American actor played the role from 1930 to 1959. Recent actors who chose to \'blacken up\' include Laurence Olivier (1965) and Orson Welles. Black English actor, known for his roles in and, played Othello on stage in 2004.

Since the 1960s it has become commonplace to cast a black actor in the character of Othello, although the casting of the role now can come with a political subtext. Took the role in the \'s 1997 staging of the play and Thomas Thieme, also white, played Othello in a 2007 staging at the; both played without blackface, their performances critically acclaimed.

20th-century Othellos. And (1943)The most notable American production may be \'s 1943 staging starring as Othello and as Iago. This production was the first ever in America to feature a black actor playing Othello with an otherwise all-white cast (there had been all-black productions of the play before). It ran for 296 performances, almost twice as long as any other Shakespearean play ever produced on.

Although it was never filmed, it was the first nearly complete performance of a Shakespeare play released on records. Robeson played Othello in three separate productions between 1930 and 1959. He first played it opposite a cast that included as Desdemona and as Roderigo, and would return to it in 1959 at.The American actor performed the title role in at least six productions. His Othello was called by of the London \'the best Othello of our time,\' continuing: \'nobler than, more martial than, more poetic than.

From his first entry, slender and magnificently tall, framed in a high Byzantine arch, clad in white samite, mystic, wonderful, a figure of Arabian romance and grace, to his last plunging of the knife into his stomach, Mr Marshall rode without faltering the play\'s enormous rhetoric, and at the end the house rose to him.\' Marshall also played Othello in a jazz musical version, Catch My Soul, with as Iago, in Los Angeles in 1968. His Othello was captured on record in 1964 with as Iago and on video in 1981 with as Iago. The 1982 staging starred as Othello and as Iago.

Shakespeare, William. Four Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. Bantam Books, 1988. Young, John G., M.D. Adventures in Creativity: Multimedia Magazine. Archived from on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.

Bevington, David and Kate, translators. \'Un Capitano Moro\' in Four Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. Bantam Books, 1988.

Virginia Mason Vaughan, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 59.