Context
Author
- Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, his father was a successful glove-maker
- as a child, Shakespeare went to grammar school but he never visited a university
- in 1582, he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children together
- when Shakespeare left his family in order to join a group of a actors as a playwright and actor as well, he became famous very quickly and has ever been considered as the most popular playwright in England
- both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I favoured Shakespeare as a playwright
- when Shakespeare died in 1616, he was a wealthy and renowned man
- after his death, his works were collected and printed in numerous editions
- due to his low education, there are some theories that hint at the fact that Shakespeare did not write all of the texts by himself - some believe that it was Francis Bacon who wrote some texts
- however, many scholars do not consider those theories to be true due to the lack of credible evidence
- Shakespeare is thus the author of 37 plays and 154 sonnets
Historical Background
- the wars between Venice and Turkey during the end of the 16th century served as a backdrop for Othello
- Cyprus used to be a Venetian outpost that was attacked in 1570 by the Turkish army and conquered one year later
- the story of Othello is based on an Italian prose tale written in 1565 by Giovanni Batista Giraldi Cinzio
- a Moorish general is mislead by his ensign into thinking that his wife is betraying him
- Shakespeare added characters such as Roderigo and Brabantio and made Iago the arch-villain
- he also accelerated the action (it only lasts a few days) and used the military and political conflict as a backdrop
- to this day, it is not clear whether Othello has sub-Saharan or Northern African ancestry
- during the time when Othello was first written and performed, the African slave trade was just beginning in London which is also part of the play‘s ancestry
- during the reign of Elizabeth I., Italian people were associated with wickedness and loose morals while Venice as city and setting was associated with passion that ultimately lead to jealousy and general sexual tension
- Iago is a Spanish name and he might thus represent the Spanish villain which at that times was the Spanish Armada that threatened English ports