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Both Shakespeare's great tragedy Othello and Verdi's opera adaptation, Otello, are highly focused works, centered on the character of Otello, a Moor general who leads the Venetian army. Of the three central characters, only Otello changes over the course of the work and that trajectory makes for powerful drama. Desdemona, Otello's beloved wife, is all goodness and faith; she becomes the victim of the man who loves her, but whose uncontrolled jealousies (reflecting underlying insecurities) lead to tragedy. Iago, Otello's trusted advisor, is all evil and meanness; he malevolently twists his patron's jealousy into a plot of revenge that fully succeeds--and results in his own downfall as well, ironically, denounced by his own wife. |