Othello (Hardbound - 2022)

The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice, or simply Othello, is a tragedy written in approximately 1603. One of Shakespeare's most tightly woven works, it explores themes of racism, betrayal, love, revenge, and forgiveness, and has spawned multiple film, literary and operatic adaptations. This play is based on the story Un Capitano Moro (A Moorish Captain) written by the Italian novelist and poet Cinthio. The term "moors" refers to Muslim inhabitants of the Arab west but was attributed to Arabs, Berbers, North Africans and Muslim Europeans.

The plot of Othello revolves around a Moorish general who has achieved great military feats on behalf of the state of Venice. The action hinges on jealousy. The play begins with a jealous complaint, as Roderigo, a rich Venetian gentleman laments to his friend Iago about the secret marriage of Othello and Desdemona. Roderigo had asked Desdemona's father for her hand in marriage, but Othello's secretly married her, leaving Roderigo alone and upset.

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon” (or simply “The Bard”). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare’s.