Othello Plot Overview

• Iago is a villain in the play because he is a paid servant who tries to ruin the life of Othello, a general, by spreading rumors that he is a witch.
• Othello is married to Desdemona, but he recently learned that she has married another man, Othello.
• Iago tells Roderigo and Brabantio that Othello has stolen Desdemona, and they go to the duke to ask for his help in finding her.
• The duke and senate are sympathetic to Othello, and they allow him to go to Cyprus to help in the defense against the Turks.
• Othello's ship is sighted while he is in Cyprus, and he and his wife go to the harbor to meet him.
• Roderigo starts a fight with Cassio, and Governor Montano is stabbed. Iago sends Roderigo to raise alarm in the town, and Othello arrives to stop the commotion.
• Iago tells Roderigo that he should cast Cassio into disgrace by starting a fight with him. Roderigo does as Iago asks, and the fight leads to Montano's death.
• Othello returns to find that his wife has been raped by Roderigo, and he kills him. Desdemona is then left alone to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy.
• Iago tells Cassio that he will frame Cassio and Desdemona as lovers to make Othello jealous.
• In an attempt at reconciliation, Cassio sends some musicians to play beneath Othello’s window. Othello, however, sends his clown to tell the musicians to go away.
• Iago passes by and tells Cassio that he will get Othello out of the way so that Cassio can speak privately with Desdemona.
• Othello becomes upset and moody, and Iago furthers his goal of removing both Cassio and Othello by suggesting that Cassio and Desdemona are involved in an affair.
• Desdemona’s entreaties to Othello to reinstate Cassio as lieutenant add to Othello’s almost immediate conviction that his wife is unfaithful.
• After Othello’s conversation with Iago, Desdemona comes to call Othello to supper and finds him feeling unwell.
• She offers him her handkerchief to wrap around his head, but he finds it to be “[t]oo little” and lets it drop to the floor.
• Desdemona and Othello go to dinner, and Emilia picks up the handkerchief, mentioning to the audience that Iago has always wanted her to steal it for him.
• Iago is ecstatic when Emilia gives him the handkerchief, which he plants in Cassio’s room as “evidence” of his affair with Desdemona.
• When Othello demands “ocular proof” (III.iii.365) that his wife is unfaithful, Iago says that he has seen Cassio “wipe his beard” (III.iii.444) with Desdemona’s handkerchief—the first gift Othello ever gave her.
• Othello vows to take vengeance on his wife and on Cassio, and Iago vows that he will help him.
• When Othello sees Desdemona later that evening, he demands the handkerchief of her, but she tells him that she does not have it with her and attempts to change the subject by continuing her suit on Cassio’s behalf.
• This drives Othello into a further rage, and he storms out.
• Later, Cassio comes onstage, wondering about the handkerchief he has just found in his chamber.
• He is greeted by Bianca, a prostitute, whom he asks to take the handkerchief and copy its embroidery for him.
• Through Iago’s machinations, Othello becomes so consumed by jealousy that he falls into a trance and has a fit of epilepsy.
• As he writhes on the ground, Cassio comes by
• Othello is a Moorish general who is stationed in Venice.
• Othello and Desdemona fall in love and marry.
• Iago is a trusted friend of Othello and works to destroy Othello's marriage.
• Iago tells Othello that Desdemona has been having affairs and that one of these affairs was with Cassio.
• Othello becomes angry and accuses Desdemona of being a whore.
• Iago assures Desdemona that Othello is just upset and that everything will be okay.
• Later that night, Othello kills Desdemona and then leaves for Venice.
• Montano, Graziano, and Iago come into the room and find Desdemona and Othello dead.
• Iago tells them that he killed Desdemona and Cassio in self-defense.
• Lodovico orders Iago to be executed, and the play ends with his death.

Test your knowledge of the plot of Shakespeare's play 'Othello' with this quiz. Explore the key events and characters from the tragic story of love, jealousy, and betrayal.