Origins of Othello

Giraldi Cinthio was a sixteenth century writer whose work was not translated into English until 1753. One of his stories, called a novel though it is actually a collection of stories, was "Disdemona of Venice and the Moorish Captain," from the author's Gli Hecatommithi (the story is from Decade 3, Story 7), served as the model for William shakespeare's Othello. The story and the play both center on Othello, the moor who is also a brave soldier and leader, and his wife, Disdemona in the original, Desdemona in the play. In both instances, a trusted underling uses his wiles to create jealousy in the moor and to cause him to destroy his wife and himself. There are differences between the villains in the two pieces, the Ensign in Cinthio, and Iago in Shakespeare.

The first difference one notes in comparing the Italian story and the English play is that in the story, only Disdemona and Othello are named, while the other characters are referred to by their titles or roles in life. Hence, the villain is known only as the Ensign. There are significant differences between the Italian narrative and Shakespeare's version. The courtship and marriage of Othello and Disdemona in Cinthio occurs over a period of time. The voyage to Cyprus takes place on a calm sea in Cinthio rather than in the storm detailed by Shakespeare, the later referred to by Othello when he is reunited with Desdemona:

It gives me wonder great as my content

To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!

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needful your good Grace shall think To be sent after me (I.iii.319-322). Iago points out this flaw in Othello, with some irony, as he refers to Cassio: You see this fellow that is gone before. . . I fear the trust Othello puts him in On some odd time of his infirmity Will shake this island (II.iii.121,126-128). Othello loses his faith in Desdemona, and he does so precisely because he has been so willing to trust everyone before this time. Iago notes whom Othello trusts, and then he finds ways to bring that trust into question, as he does with Cassio and as he does with Desdemona. Iago's motivation for his hatred for Othello and for the actions he takes to destroy Othello are not easy to understand. There is not a clear reason for what Iago does, except perhaps that he is jealous of Othello's success and unhappy at his own relatively low rank. This seems a slim reason for the extremes to which Iago is willing to go, but he is a very complex character so that there is always a sense that there is more going on in his mind than we can discern. Just when he might be expected to give the reasons for his actions, he refuses to speak at all: Demand me nothing; what you know, you

Category: Literature - O