Othello

Othello is the finest general in Venice — bold, noble, beloved. He has just married Desdemona, a senator’s daughter, and she loves him as completely as he loves her. He has a trusted lieutenant named Iago. Within three acts, Iago will have convinced Othello that his wife is having an affair with another man, and the consequences will be irreversible.

Shakespeare’s tragedy of jealousy is the one that reaches deepest into private life — no armies, no ghosts, no kingdoms at stake. Just one man’s trust, one woman’s innocence, and one of literature’s most brilliant and disturbing villains. Iago’s motives have been debated for four hundred years: is his malice understandable? Does he even know himself why he does what he does? The answers to these questions change every time the play is performed, and the uncertainty is part of what makes it endure.

The ending — Desdemona’s death, Othello’s recognition of what he has destroyed — is among the most harrowing in all drama. This Penguin Classics edition includes a scholarly introduction and full notes. Essential Shakespeare. Published by Penguin Classics.