Why William Shakespeare Wrote Othello
William Shakespeare wrote Othello to offer a dramatic exploration of the workings of evil on mortal men. George Brandes states that Othello is the only one of Shakespeare's tragedies that does not deal with national events (127). Instead, it is a "family tragedy" (127). Brandes establishes that Othello was probably first produced in the autumn of 1605 (113). He states that Shakespeare found the material for Othello in Cinthio's Italian collection of tales, the same place he found the plot of Measure for Measure (114). Brandes also argues that, although Shakespeare calls Othello The Moor of Venice, believing that Shakespeare thought of Othello as black is unreasonable. Rather, he believes that Iago's mention of Mauritania as the country to which Othello intends to retire shows that Othello should be represented as an Arab (116). However, the darkness of his skin would still make it possible for men who hate and envy him to apply to him the epithets usually reserved for blacks (Brandes 116).
Shakespeare arranges the dramatic action in Othello to present the most favorable field for Iago's operations (Brandes 117). Brandes states that Shakespeare creates Othello in a way that makes him more susceptible than any other man to Iago's poison (117). Then Shakespeare lets the reader trace the growth of his passionate jealousy caused by Iago's evil manipulations "through every stage of its development, until it blasts and shatters the [Othello's] whole character" (117).
The main theme of Othello is evil. Othello is destroyed because he does not realize that Desdemona is good and Iago is evil (Rackin 68). Rackin also states that Othello "fails to recognize the hidden potentiality for evil within himself" (68). Each of the main characters in the play provides the chance to explore some aspect of evil in human nature.
Shakespeare never really makes clear Iago's reasons for hating Othell...