History YMMV / Othello

*** In keeping with that idea, given what a beloved and classic villain Iago is, the fact that so many big stars of the past would prefer to darken up their skin and play his {{Deuteragonist}} instead of him just makes this even more noticeable, particularly because nowadays, Iago is usually played by the bigger name than Othello.

** The play's main message (interracial marriage can be a loving one and racism can bring severe consequences) is still, if not more, relevant in today world of global traveling easier than Shakespeare's time. Likewise, relationships are difficult and messy, and the play's rather overt criticism of the MadonnaWhoreComplex, and its portrayal of a loving husband can become domineering and abusive, and make it hard for the wife to resist, makes it a pretty realistic work.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: As feminism began to seriously kick off in the twentieth century, new attention was paid to the traditionally-disdained character of Desdemona. The especial turning point is usually seen as Maggie Smith's tough, angry SilkHidingSteel performance in 1964, which encouraged later productions to put much more fight and sexuality in their Desdemonas after a long period of passive, chaste bowdlerisation. Even the more demure versions since then have become more prominent and central more often, with their tragedy being emphasised rather than being sidelined to better serve the interplay of Othello and Iago.

*** Iago is class-resentment, and indeed, this is the only motive he expresses with any consistency.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Some critics believe the reason for Iago's plot against Othello is not because he was denied a promotion, but instead because [[{{Yandere}} he has homosexual feelings for Othello and thus is jealous of Desdemona]].
** The aforementioned is just one of a number of proposed motives for Iago, since he offers several different ones in the course of the play; theories go so far as to suggest that he is {{Satan}} himself.
** Another one is that he didn't actually have a motive, and [[ForTheEvulz was doing it just because]]. The numerous motives that get discarded and contradicted don't help.
** One 2015 performance in Stratford had Iago being played by a black actor, adding some fascinating new dimensions to his rants against Othello.
** There's also Desdemona herself - [[TheIngenue an innocent, young woman]] or just ObfuscatingStupidity? Remember that she did manage to "seel her father's eyes" and elope with Othello amongst other not so innocent acts.
** A possible motive for Iago is class-resentment, and indeed, this is the only motive he expresses with any consistency.
** Racist interpretations of the play sometimes see Desdemona as am empty-head strumpet who only marries Othello because she can't control her libido and condemn her for "miscegenation". See the quotation from John Quincy Adams below. Of course, Adams' frothing about Desdemona's 'betrayal' of duty, race, sex, and country also stems from his ideas about everything women should be striving for -- to be the perfect consorts of men like their own families (and betraying one's own sex presumably meaning not keeping women of one's own station an exclusive commodity to men of one's own status or preferably higher, therefore presumably degrading their value), and churning out sons in the image of one's own people. Desdemona's relationship with Othello is in this respect behaving as if she's her own individual person, rather than a conduit for Venetian sons -- something unforgivable for misogynists.
** There are alternative views of Othello himself: Hero, fool or downright monster? The critic John Sutherland noted that in the original story, Shakespeare's source material, the unsympathetic Othello-equivalent plotted with the Iago-equivalent about how to kill his wife in a way that wouldn't leave a mark/would look like natural causes, so that he could escape punishment and could maintain his position. While Shakespeare's Othello is [[AdaptationalHeroism way more sympathetic overall]], there's [[TheArtifact a few lines that indicate that he too attempted such a plan]], putting him in a worse light. Sutherland also discusses how despite making grandiose claims about his handkerchief, in other instances, Othello treats it like a normal handkerchief, and his later obsession with it has elements of BelievingTheirOwnLies.
** At one point, Othello has a seizure [[UnreliableNarrator according to Iago.]] If Othello truthfully has epilepsy, then it's one more obstacle that makes him different from the Venitians and might feed into his insecurity.
** According to Othello, Desdemona once said that she wished God had made her a man that could go on the adventures Othello's described. The obvious, and indeed, most common interpretation is that Desdemona wishes God had made her a man ''to marry'', since it's established that Othello's strength and bravery are [[WomenPreferStrongMen are a huge part of what won her over]]. However, others have suggested that Desdemona means she wishes God had made ''her'' a man, so that ''she'' could go on these adventures herself. The former is probably what was meant, but it's interesting to think about, and potentially throws Desdemona's character in a different light. (And, Shakespeare being Shakespeare, the double-meaning may not have been an accident.)
** One of Iago's alleged motives is that he heard a rumor that Emilia cheated on him with Othello. There's no indication that this is true, and most readers agree that it's probably not, but Emilia ''does'' have a speech where she claims that adultery can be (and often is) justified, particularly if a woman cheats on her abusive husband. Iago is certainly awful to Emilia, and Emilia overall demonstrates a far more cynical and "practical" outlook on marriage (and life in general) than Desdemona. It's not too far-fetched to think that she may have sought companionship elsewhere -- if not with Othello, then with ''somebody''.

* CompleteMonster: [[IronicNickname Honest]] Iago is one of the most famous examples of this trope to ever appear on the English stage. A bitter Venetian officer who resents the promotion of another man over him by his commander, the Moor Othello, Iago schemes for revenge by [[ManipulativeBastard ingratiating himself with Othello and driving him to madness]] with insinuations his beloved wife Desdemona is having an affair with the officer Michael Cassio. Iago undermines Othello while [[FalseFriend acting as his friend]]. Iago murders his accomplice Roderigo and [[TilMurderDoUsPart his own wife Emilia]] to cover for himself, and at the end, convinces Othello to murder Desdemona. At the end, Iago displays no remorse and refuses to speak one word more in his whole life. Throughout the play, Iago has various motives proposed for his evil--racism, envy, suspicion that Othello is sleeping with Emilia--but concludes he has no reason behind his cruelties beyond the fact that [[ForTheEvulz he simply enjoys them]].

* CompleteMonster: [[IronicNickname Honest]] Iago is one of the most famous examples of this trope to ever appear on the English stage. A bitter Venetian officer who resents the promotion of another man over him by his commander, the Moor Othello, Iago schemes for revenge by [[ManipulativeBastard ingratiating himself with Othello and driving him to madness]] with insinuations his beloved wife Desdemona is having an affair with the officer Michael Cassio. Iago undermines Othello while [[FalseFriend acting as his friend]]. Iago murders his accomplice Roderigo and [[TilMurderDoUsPart his own wife Emilia]] to cover for himself, and at the end, convinces Othello to murder Desdemona. At the end, Iago displays no remorse and refuses to speak one word more in his whole life. Throughout the play, Iago has various motives proposed for his evil: racism, envy, suspicion that Othello is sleeping with Emilia but concludes he has no reason behind his cruelties beyond the fact that [[ForTheEvulz he simply enjoys them]].

* CompleteMonster: [[IronicNickname Honest Iago]] is one of the most famous examples of this trope to ever appear on the English stage. A bitter Venetian officer who resents the promotion of another man over him by his commander, the Moor Othello, Iago schemes for revenge by ingratiating himself with Othello and driving him to madness with insinuations his beloved wife Desdemona is having an affair with the officer Michael Cassio. Iago undermines Othello while [[FalseFriend acting as his friend]]. Iago murders his accomplice Roderigo and his own wife Emilia to cover for himself, and at the end, convinces Othello to murder Desdemona. At the end, Iago displays no remorse and refuses to speak one word more in his whole life. Through the play, Iago goes through various motives for his evil: [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racism]], [[DrivenByEnvy envy]], suspicion Othello is sleeping with Emilia... But at the end, he simply concludes [[ForTheEvulz there is no motive]]. He simply ''enjoys'' this.

* CompleteMonster: [[IronicNickname Honest Iago]] is one of the most famous examples of this trope to ever appear on the English stage. A bitter Venetian officer who resents the promotion of another man over him by his commander, the Moor Othello, Iago schemes for revenge by ingratiating himself with Othello and driving him to madness with insinuations his beloved wife Desdemona is having an affair with the officer Michael Cassio. Iago undermines Othello while [[FalseFriend acting as his friend]]. Iago murders his accomplice Roderigo and his own wife Emilia to cover for himself, and at the end, convinces Othello to murder Desdemona. At the end, Iago displays no remorse and refuses to speak one word more in his whole life. Through the play, Iago goes through various motives for his evil: [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racism]], [[GreenEyedMonster envy]], suspicion Othello is sleeping with Emilia... But at the end, he simply concludes [[ForTheEvulz there is no motive]]. He simply ''enjoys'' this.

** Cassio's blithe dismissal of Iago's misogynistic remarks as TooFunnyToBeEvil (and the way that it is shown as a clear mistake on Cassio's part that allows Iago to go on to ruin many people's lives) also resonates with modern audiences, who tend to take such red flags more seriously ala "when people show you who they are, believe them the first time."

* ValuesResonance: The play's main message (interracial marriage can be a loving one and racism can bring severe consequences) is still, if not more, relevant in today world of global traveling easier than Shakespeare's time. Likewise, relationships are difficult and messy, and the play's rather overt criticism of the MadonnaWhoreComplex, and its portrayal of a loving husband can become domineering and abusive, and make it hard for the wife to resist, makes it a pretty realistic work.

* CompleteMonster: [[IronicNickname Honest Iago]] is one of the most famous examples of this trope to ever appear on the English stage. A bitter Venetian officer who resents the promotion of another man over him by his commander, the Moor Othello, Iago schemes for revenge by ingratiating himself with Othello and driving him to madness with insinuations his beloved wife Desdemona is having an affair with the officer Michael Cassio. Iago undermines Othello while [[FalseFriend acting as his friend]]. Iago murders his accomplice Roderigo and his own wife Emilia to cover for himself, and at the end, convinces Othello to murder Desdemona. At the end, Iago displays no remorse and refuses to speak one word more in his whole life. Through the play, Iago goes through various motives for his evil: [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racism]], [[GreenEyedMonster envy]], suspicion Othello is sleeping with Emilia...but at the end he simply concludes [[ForTheEvulz there is no motive]]. He simply ''enjoys'' this.

* HoYay: Some scholars -- and many a high school English teacher -- have proposed that Iago's true motivation is unrequited love for Othello. You can find evidence for this in his dialogue.
** Then again, you can find evidence for at least a dozen, often conflicting, motivations in his dialog. He also says he has no reason at all. See also ForTheEvulz.
** Might be a case of a deliberate MultipleChoicePast, to emphasize that Iago is an unrepentant liar..
** For some Iago's description of Cassio in bed with him and "sleep humping" might fit this.

* CommonKnowledge: [[ProtagonistTitleFallacy Many people believe Othello is the main character]], and that the dynamic between him and Iago is that of a protagonist and antagonist. While Othello is universally considered a leading role, he's not the main character, Iago is, as he's the one who drives the action and has the most lines. Because of this, Iago is not the antagonist, [[VillainProtagonist as even when you're a villain, you're still the protagonist when you're the main character]]. In recent years, more people are Iago as the main character, likely due to a combination of seeing the show and it being made clear, but also because now he's regularly played by a bigger name than Othello's actor.

* NightmareFuel: The whole show, really. So many lives are ruined by one man's hatred. Iago sets off the chain of events that does all this damage with a well-placed handkerchief, and ''rumors''. Over the course of ''less than a week'', one man manages to drive a previously devoted husband to murder his wife, and indirectly causes the death of four others, without a hint of remorse. [[MultipleChoicePast And we don't even really know]] ''[[UnreliableNarrator why]]''. The best we can figure is that [[ForTheEvulz he just thinks it's fun]].

* CompleteMonster: [[IronicNickname Honest Iago]] is one of the most famous examples of this trope in English Literature. A bitter Venetian officer who resents the promotion of another man over him by his commander, the Moor Othello, Iago schemes for revenge by ingratiating himself with Othello and driving him to madness with insinuations his beloved wife Desdemona is having an affair with the officer Cassio. Iago undermines Othello while [[FalseFriend acting as his friend]]. Iago murders his accomplice and even his own wife to cover for himself, and at the end, convinces Othello to murder Desdemona. [[LackOfEmpathy Iago displays no remorse and refuses to speak one word more in his whole life.]] Through the play, Iago goes through [[FreudianExcuse various motives for his evil]]: racism, envy, suspicion Othello is sleeping with his own wife... but he simply concludes [[ForTheEvulz there is no motive.]] He simply ''enjoys'' this.

* LoveToHate: Iago is one of the most famously monstrous characters in all of fiction, but he's a truly fascinating and hugely entertaining VillainProtagonist, and his sheer evilness inly contributes to that.

** He may be a sympathetic character whose manipulated into doing so, but Othello murdering Desdemona is still a horrific action, and once Othello gets the clear picture of events afterwards, it's clear he himself believes he's crossed it.
** Brabantio's initial demeanor, while racist and violent could be somewhat defended by [[PapaWolf him being so upset about his daughter's well being]]. But once it’s been made clear to him that Desdemona is perfectly fine and happy with Othello, he disowns her for marrying a Moor, which makes it clear that he's cruel bigot who could care less about his daughter if her ideals go against his.

* RootingForTheEmpire: While a good production should make you feel for and hope in vein that Iago's victims don't fall for his tricks, the combination of his stylish villainy and cunning nature makes watching his monstrous actions quite engaging, which means you'll likely want to see where all his plotting is going, even if you know the outcome is anything but good for the decidedly more sympathetic characters.

* At one point Iago says to Roderigo's a statement that's basically meant to say "Good lord". Sounds pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, the phrase he uses is "Blessed pudding".

** In ''Film/{{O}}'', [[HighSchoolAU the modern update set in High School]], Iago is played by [[MrFanservice Josh Harnett.]] [[EvilIsSexy Hmmm.]]
** And in a modern update ''not'' set in high school, he's played by Creator/ChristopherEccleston, who already had an unsettling tendency to make even a CompleteMonster at least a bit sympathetic.

** Emilia, Iago's wife, mostly on the grounds of being ''[[CompleteMonster Iago]]'s [[DomesticAbuse wife]]''. She tries to please him, to no avail, and one of these attempts ultimately gets her best friend murdered. And then when Emilia finally outs Iago as the bastard he is, he kills her, too.

* MemeticMutation: Everyone trusts Iago. Except Emily, but who asked her?

** Racist interpretations of the play sometimes see Desdemona as am empty-head strumpet who only marries Othello because she can't control her libido and condemn her for "miscegenation". See the quotation from John Quincy Adams below.
*** Of course, Adams' frothing about Desdemona's 'betrayal' of duty, race, sex and country also stems from his ideas about everything women should be striving for- to be the perfect consorts of men like their own families (and betraying one's own sex presumably meaning not keeping women of one's own station an exclusive commodity to men of one's own status or preferably higher, therefore presumably degrading their value), and churning out sons in the image of one's own people. Desdemona's relationship with Othello is in this respect behaving as if she's her own individual person, rather than a conduit for Venetian sons- unforgivable.

----

!!Verdi's opera:
* AdaptationDisplacement: Before Verdi, Gioachino Rossini had also done an opera called ''Otello''. However, that deviates heavily from Shakespeare's play, instead being based on a French adaptation of the story, whereas Verdi's opera is much more faithful to Shakespeare's version. Guess which one is most performed today?
* SugarWiki/{{Awesome Music}}: It's Verdi, after all. Special mention goes to "Una vela!", "Gia nella notte densa", and the hauntingly beautiful Willow Song.
* BrokenBase: The use of blackface for Otello. For many years, white tenors have used blackface when singing Otello, and only in 2015 did the Met Opera stop using it. Some people argue that using dark makeup is simply a matter of costuming, and not a true example of racist blackface, but it's safe to say that it's a controversial topic in this current day and age.
* CompleteMonster: Iago is as evil and manipulative as he is in Shakespeare's play, and he even has an aria where he boasts of his cruelty. His aria, "Credo in un Dio crudel" literally translates to "I believe in a cruel God", and it's all about how he ''delights'' in being cruel and evil, and how he doesn't believe in being a good man. It's safe to say that Verdi has made him just as villainous, if not moreso, as Shakespeare did.
* NightmareFuel: Act IV really escalates in nightmare fuel. Desdemona's Willow Song is haunting, and the music that plays when Otello enters the bedroom is very sinister and foreboding, and in the moments leading up to Desdemona's death, the music really becomes almost terrifying as it conveys the anger and downfall of a good man. In addition, Iago's "Credo" aria is quite frightening as well.
* TearJerker: You can expect this, since it's based off Shakespeare's original tragedy, of course. But Act IV, right after Otello realizes the truth and that Desdemona was innocent, is downright painful to listen to. And of course, his suicide and the moments where he sings his last lines before dying is also quite heartwrenching.
* TheWoobie: Just like Shakespeare's play, we have Desdemona and Otello, in which their loving marriage is destroyed violently due to Iago's cruel manipulation of Otello.

---> '''Othello:''' ''*kneels*'' In the due reverence of a sacred vow
---> I here engage my words.
---> '''Iago:''' Do not rise yet. ''*kneels*''
---> Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
---> You elements that clip us round about,
---> Witness that here Iago doth give up
---> The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
---> To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command,
---> And to obey shall be in me remorse,
---> What bloody business ever.
---> ''*they rise*''
---> '''Othello:''' I greet thy love,
---> Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
---> And will upon the instant put thee to't:
---> Within these three days let me hear thee say
---> That Cassio's not alive.
---> . . .
---> '''Iago:''' I am your own for ever.

---> '''UsefulNotes/JohnQuincyAdams:''' "Who can feel sympathy for Desdemona? A woman who, born and educated to a splendid and lofty station in the community, betrays her race, her sex, her duty and her country, and makes a runaway match with a blackamoor!"

* BrokenBase: The use of blackface for Otello. For many years, white tenors have used blackface when singing Otello, and only in 2015 did the Met Opera stop using it. Some people argue that using dark makeup is simply a matter of costuming, and not a true example of racist blackface, but it's safe to say that it's a very hot topic in this current day and age.