Othello and Desdemona in Venice by Théodore Chassériau (1819-1856)

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, often shortened to Othello,[a] is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulated by his ensign, Iago, into suspecting his wife Desdemona of infidelity. Othello is widely considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest works and is usually classified among his major tragedies alongside Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. Unpublished in the author’s life, the play survives in one quarto edition from 1622 and in the First Folio.

Othello has been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, both among playgoers and literary critics, since its first performance, spawning numerous stage, screen, and operatic adaptations. Among actors, the roles of Othello, Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia (Iago’s wife) are regarded as highly demanding and desirable. Critical attention has focused on the nature of the play’s tragedy, its unusual mechanics, its treatment of race, and on the motivations of Iago and his relationship to Othello. Originally performed by white actors in dark makeup, the role of Othello began to be played by black actors in the 19th century.

Shakespeare’s major source for the play was a novella by Cinthio, the plot of which Shakespeare borrowed and reworked substantially. Though not among Shakespeare’s longest plays, it contains two of his four longest roles in Othello and Iago.

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  • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    7·
    20 hours ago

    CW: mental health, crush posting.

    I have just had something hugely destabilizing happen. I just had a little situationship with a nice woman I met. This were very intense and there were sparks immediately. A few days ago I lost contact. Which was distressing as we had basically spent every free hour of last two weeks together. Upon her return she was a diffrent person. I had met her during a manic episode it turns out. She has since got her mood stabilized and is a diffrent person. She does not care to continue the relationship. I fell in love with a woman that does not exist. I have to consider what it means that her coming up on a manic episode matched my energy well. So I am left just left embarrassed and confused. I have lost someone that doesn’t exist and that I never had.

    • TerminalEncounter [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      4·
      9 hours ago

      Its easy to fall in love with someone in a manic state because of the energy and drive and interest they can show

      I loved someone who has bipolar depression. The manic state can be high-key fun. When they were in an upswing, we could get so much art done, so much fun couple time, it felt lioe being 19 again when we were just starting to fall in love. But its also exhausting. And its not maintainable, and coming down sucks hard. It also often leads to a lot of harm (to themsleves, to others, etc). Some manic ideas are very, very bad but having an upswing brain means youre very confident that theyre good ideas and unless you have a deep trusting relationship there is no containing it (and even with a deep trusting relationship… not always).

      I dont think it has to mean anything if you found someone in a manic state attractive for a short period of time. Im sure the attention was very flattering. Its just not sustainable and I guarantee you, you do not want that level of sustained attention and activity. For now, you spent only free hours with each other. Consider what it would mean if those free hours included when you needed to sleep and you live together and potentially share a bed, for example. Its easy to get caught up in new relationship stuff that papers over what it means to be together.