Yes, the title character smothers his wife, Desdemona, then kills himself with his sword. But the villain, Iago, lives — and the play as a whole does, too. Why does Desdemona marry Othello, a much-older general who is battle-scarred and — because he is Black and she is white — sure to shock her highborn Venetian family? Why is Othello so easily tempted by his ensign’s ruses into a jealous dementia? And why, most interestingly, does that ensign, Iago, set out to destroy him in the first place?

Source: New York Times September 04, 2020 17:48 UTC