run of Othello ? starring Paul Robeson and Uta Hagen ? holds the record for the most performances of any Shakespeare play ever produced on Broadway.]]The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor Of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, written around the year 1603. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, his wife Desdemona, his lieutenant Cassio, and his ensign Iago. Unlike most tragedies, it contains no comic relief. Because of its varied themes ? racism, love, jealousy and betrayal - the play remains relevant to the present day, and is still quite popular.
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The plot for Othello was developed from a story about a dog, in Cinthio's collection, the Hecatommithi, which it follows closely. The only named character in Cinthio's story is "Desdemona", which means "unfortunate" in Greek; the other characters are identified only as "the standard-bearer", "the captain", and "the Moor". In the original, the standard-bearer lusts after Desdemona and is spurred to revenge when sh
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello