What is a summary of Othello?

Answer 1

Othello is a General that lives in Italy(Venice), but is a Moor. Traditionally that means he is black while everyone else is white. He is very respected and marries on of the leading families daughters. Iago is one of his most trusted lieutenants, but after great victories Othello decides to promote someone else. Iago then begins a scheme to get power. First he brings down his other rivals for power. Then he seeks revenge on Othello. To do so he starts scandals almost on a whim and makes everyone distrust one another. Including Othello and his wife. Side note: Othello has epilepsy and no one must know or they will think him weak or possesed. Iago forces Othello to smother his wife and all of his rivals to die, yet in the end He loses his own life in his web of lies. One of the most Ironic things about Othello is Iago the most wicked liar coins the term (I wear my heart upon my sleeve.) Meaning he does not decieve.

Iago makes the top ten most evil fictional villains ever.

Answer 2

I found Othello a great novel !

The main character (Othello) is engaged to a young beautiful woman but his biggest secret is that he is a homosexual. Another reason I love this novel is that it contained a famous Pigeon named Cher Ami. but if you want my honest opinion i would suggest to forget about Othello and research about Pigeons you will be amazed!

Pigeon Veteran.

Answer 3

The play opens with Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, a high-ranking soldier, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had previously asked her father for her hand in marriage. Iago is upset with Othello for promoting a younger man named Michael Cassio above him, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago's argument against Cassio is that he is a scholarly tactician with no real battle experience from which he can draw strategy; in contrast, Iago has practical battle skills. By emphasizing Roderigo's failed bid for Desdemona, and his own dissatisfaction with serving under Othello, Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio, Desdemona's father, and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Next, Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.

However, before Brabantio reaches Othello, news arrives in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio arrives and accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft, but Othello defends himself successfully before an assembly that includes the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsman Lodovico and Gratiano, and various senators, explaining that Desdemona became enamored of him for the stories he told of his early life.

By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Emilia as Desdemona's attendant.

The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a general celebration. Iago schemes to use Cassio to ruin Othello and takes the opportunity of Othello's absence at the celebration to persuade Roderigo to engage Cassio in a fight. He achieves this by getting Cassio drunk on wine. The brawl greatly alarms the citizenry, and Othello is forced to quell the disturbance. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance, and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught, but Iago persuades him to importune Desdemona to act as an intermediary between himself and Othello, and persuade her husband to reinstate him.

Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. As it happens, Cassio is courting a courtesan named Bianca. Desdemona drops a handkerchief that was Othello's first gift to her and which he has stated holds great significance to him in the context of their relationship. Iago asks Emilia to steal it. Emilia, unaware of what Iago plans to do with the handkerchief, steals it. Iago plants it in Cassio's lodgings as evidence of Cassio and Desdemona's affair. After he has planted the handkerchief, Iago tells Othello to stand apart and watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him about the handkerchief. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, without mentioning her name; because no name is mentioned, Othello thinks that Cassio is referring to Desdemona. Bianca, on discovering the handkerchief, chastises Cassio, accusing him of giving her a second-hand gift which he received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona. Enraged and hurt, Othello decides he is going to kill his wife and Iago offers to kill Cassio. Othello proceeds to make Desdemona's life a misery, hitting her in front of her family. Desdemona laments her suffering, remembering the fate of her mother's maid, who was forsaken by her lover.

Iago convinces Roderigo to kill Cassio instead, because Cassio has just been appointed in Othello's place, whereas if Cassio lives to take office, Othello and Desdemona will leave Cyprus, thwarting Roderigo's plans to win Desdemona. Roderigo attacks Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. They fight and both are wounded. Passers-by arrive to help; Iago joins them, pretending to help Cassio. Iago secretly stabs Roderigo to stop him from confessing and accuses Bianca of conspiracy to kill Cassio.

In the night, Othello confronts Desdemona, and then kills her by smothering her in bed, before Emilia arrives. At Emilia's distress, Othello tries to explain himself, justifying his actions by accusing Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The Governor arrives, with Iago and others, and Emilia begins to explain the situation. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as proof, Emilia realizes what Iago has done; she exposes him, whereupon Iago kills her. Othello, realizing Desdemona's innocence, attacks Iago but does not kill him, saying that he would rather have Iago live the rest of his life in pain. Lodovico, a Venetian nobleman, apprehends both Iago and Othello, but Othello commits suicide with a dagger before they can take him into custody. At the end, it can be assumed, Iago is taken off to be tortured and possibly executed.

Answer 4

Othello is a shakespearean play about Othello (the moor) shakespearean termonology for a black person Desdnamona a white noble woman Othello marries Iago a trusted general under Othellos command whom later in the play and actually throughout the entire play completely decieves and manipulates everyone else in the play towards the tragic end Othello marries desdnamona Iago manipulates Rodrigo and Cassio Cassio is Otehellos 2cd in command and Iago wants his position Emilia is Iagos wife also desdnamonas handmaid, Iago makes up a story that desdnamona and Cassio are sleeping together behind Othellos back this pisses off rodrigo because I he is in love with desdnamona and shes already been married and 2 shes sleeping with cassio too though none of its true Iago gets Cassio drunk and he gets in a fight which makes Othello look bad so he lost his commission as lietentatn Iago tells Cassio to go talk to Othellos wife to see if maybe she can appeal to him for Cassio which is why Othello percieves an affair to be taking place Iago steals a token handkerchief and puts it in Cassios room furthering the idea ultimatley all this crap happend becasue Iago is a hateful and Othello was too gulible and prideful to listen to his wife in the end they all end up dead

Answer 5

Othello belongs to a racial minority (he is black). He marries a high-class girl from the other side of the tracks (Desdemona) and there is a lot of talk about it. Othello has a close friend who is out to get him (Iago). Iago manages to convince Othello that Desdemona is putting it about. Othello throws a cow and murders Desdemona.

When Othello finds out he was wrong, he kills himself.

Othello is a noble man from a line of royal men and ranks higher then Desdemona who comes from a trading family. He is the military leader of Venice. How racist can the Venetians be if they make the sole Black man their military leader? The supposedly racist remarks should be understood in a different light. The objections against him are the objections the rising middling classes had against the nobility. As the European nobility symbolised their superiority with images of Moors, Othello is a person as well as a symbol. The play voices mild attacks at the nobility, mocks their traditions, but is not revolutionary in nature. As a symbol, the Moor is superior and blameless, as a person he can have demerits. Compare Othello to Mr. Elton in Emma (1816) or Mr. Crawford in Mansfield Park, both by Jane Austen.

Answer 6

Othello, a middle-aged well-travelled black man who is a general in the forces of the Republic of Venice, falls in love with and secretly marries a young, naive, Venetian girl called Desdemona. Desdemona may be naive but she knows how she feels about Othello and is prepared to do anything for him. Othello is an impressive figure: calm, commanding, just and humble, we are instantly impressed with him and attracted to him.

Othello has chosen as his ensign Iago, a career soldier in the Venetian forces. Unknown to Othello, Iago hates him. Iago never makes clear to us exactly why he hates Othello so much, although he hints at a half-dozen different motives. Iago is an accomplished liar and schemer, and puts into operation a scheme which will deceive and destroy Othello, Desdemona, and Othello's lieutenant, the Florentine captain Cassio.

Answer 7

The play Othello is about a Venetian general, Othello, who is a moor, or African. He and Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian senator, fall in love and secretly marry. Othello appoints as his second-in-command a man from Florence called Michael Cassio, and as his ensign, a lesser position, a man called Iago. Iago is jealous of Cassio's appointment and thinks he should have been appointed instead. He also is jealous and suspicious of Othello and claims that he has heard that Othello has had an affair with Iago`s wife Emilia. Iago has befriended Roderigo, a somewhat simpleminded man who is a failed suitor to Desdemona.

The Senate of Venice meets and approves Othello's marriage despite the objections of Desdemona's father. They also appoint Othello commander of a force, based in Cyprus, to intercept a Turkish fleet. Othello leaves for Cyprus with the navy and army including Cassio and Iago, as well as Roderigo who has sold his lands and joined the army, having been persuaded by Iago that Iago can seduce Desdemona on his behalf. Desdemona is also on the trip and Emilia, Iago's wife, is acting as her lady's maid.

All goes well--the Turks are defeated and the fleet returns to Cyprus. Iago notices that Cassio is particularly attentive to Desdemona and conceives a scheme in which he will trade on his wholely undeserved reputation for honesty to persuade Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, leading to the downfall of them all.

Unfortunately, he is very good at this. He succeeds.

Answer 8

Shakespeare's plays do not have messages. They are not designed as morality tracts or Propaganda pieces except to the extent required by the law of that time. Shakespeare presents situations in which there are moral issues, but leaves it to the actors and directors to determine exactly how these issues are to be presented. Every group of actors brings its own sensibilities to the performance. That the plays have this flexibility accounts for their longevity and attests to the greatness of their author. In other words, Shakespeare was a great playwright because he didn't put messages in his plays.

In Othello, we have a marriage between two people who are very different: Othello is black, Desdemona is white; Othello is a soldier, Desdemona is the pampered daughter of an aristocrat; Othello is knowledgeable and experienced, Desdemona is naive; Othello is much older than Desdemona is. Notwithstanding all this, there is never a doubt in Desdemona's mind that Othello is the man for her. Othello, however, has a certain amount of insecurity as is evident even in Act I when he says, "She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, and I loved her that she did pity them." Othello is not sure that Desdemona can love him for who he is, but can only pity him. This insecurity is the crevice into which Iago inserts the knife and starts to twist.

Another more racist era would happily take from this the message that interracial marriages are bad. They might (and did!) even conclude that black men are stupid. Thus they had the play say what they wanted it to say. Nowadays we would not take such a message away with us. Instead, we would observe how easy it is for someone to convince us of something with little evidence under the right circumstances. Othello secretly fears that a girl like Desdemona could not love an old guy like him, so he is ready and willing to accept that conclusion when Iago presents it to him, without scrutinizing the evidence very carefully. An interesting lesson when applied to people who fall for conspiracy theories or justifications of Middle Eastern wars. There are also lessons about interspousal communication here. Desdemona could have set Othello's mind at rest had he been prepared to believe her. But he wasn't.

Answer 9

Othello is a play by William Shakespeare. In this play, Othello, the Venetian general, elopes with Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian aristocrat. Othello and Desdemona are very much in love even though he is black and she is white, she is very young and he is middle-aged, and he is a self-made man and she is an aristocrat. Othello is put in charge of a Venetian military expedition to Cyprus which is easily concluded, and the couple, along with the rest of the army, stop in Cyprus. Here the trouble starts. Iago, a soldier who has a grievance against Othello and his lieutenant Cassio, persuades Othello, by a devious and lengthy series of insinuations, setups and outright lies that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Othello is drawn into thinking that he has to murder Desdemona for her infidelity, and does so. Minutes afterwards, Iago's wife reveals the means by which Othello was tricked, and the scales of jealousy fall from his eyes. He kills himself out of grief and Horror, calling himself one who "loved not wisely but too well."The manipulative ploys used by Iago on Othello and everyone else form part of the horrific fascination of the tale, along with Othello's fall from a calm, reasonable and well-respected leader to a violent maniac as he suffers from the internal conflict between his love of Desdemona and his fear that she is unfaithful.