Character Study

Understanding Othello: A Character Study

• Othello is a famous hero created by a playwright 400 years ago, who made his audience confront the question of whether they could kill the person they love.
• Othello kills his wife, making him a character that could exist today and requires understanding.
• The actor who played Othello in 1997 prepared physically to play the role of a warrior capable of horrendous acts of violence.
• The play starts as a love story between Othello, a respected military general, and Desdemona, a young Venetian noblewoman.
• Desdemona makes Othello's heart leap, and he's never experienced anything like it before, making their love a powerful, all-consuming emotion.
• Othello is a Moor, a foreigner from Islamic North Africa, and his arrival in Venice with tales of adventure woos Desdemona.
• Othello's background is unclear, and he knows he's an outsider, making it challenging to understand who he is.
• The Elizabethan era had black people in England, including servants and militarily powerful figures, and there was cultural exchange between Morocco and Elizabethan England.
• Shakespeare met Mohammed al "Ah-nou-ri," the ambassador from Barbary, who was a smart and powerful figure, and people became uneasy about him after some weeks.
• Othello's character should be thought of similarly to Ah-nou-ri, a foreigner who made people unsure and uncomfortable.
• The play's central question remains relevant today and requires an understanding of human nature.
• Understanding Othello is crucial to understanding oneself.