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Iago (/ i ˈ ɑː ɡ oʊ /) is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer.He is the husband of Emilia who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona.
Othello, a General in the Venetian army, promotes a young officer, Michael Cassio, enraging Iago—the General's ensign—who expected the post himself. Outwardly loyal to Othello and his recently married wife, Desdemona, Iago proceeds to cause dissension within Othello's camp (for instance, tuning Othello's new father-in-law against him, and causing Cassio to fight another officer).
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 .
Othello (also known as The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice) is a 1951 tragedy directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also adapted the Shakespearean play and played the title role. Recipient of the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (precursory name for the Palme d'Or [ 3 ] ) at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival , the film was ...
The film received largely positive reviews, especially for Branagh's Iago.Branagh was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance. [4] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Mr. Branagh's superb performance, as the man whose Machiavellian scheming guides the story of Othello's downfall, guarantees this film an immediacy that any audience will understand. ...
There is debate among critics as to Emilia's character nature in Othello, with some deeming her a villain and some as the true hero of the play.This is because her allegiances initially seem to lie with her husband, and she displays the typical “wifely virtues of silence, obedience, and prudence" [2] of the Elizabethan period (as seen in her theft of the handkerchief in 3.1).
In a tragic culmination, Othello, consumed by jealousy, strangles Desdemona. Emilia (Antonina Maksimova), Iago's wife, reveals her husband's treachery, prompting Iago to murder her in a fit of rage. As the truth comes to light, Othello, overwhelmed with grief and remorse, takes his own life.
[23] Marshall also played Othello in a jazz musical version, Catch My Soul, with Jerry Lee Lewis as Iago, in Los Angeles in 1968. [24] His Othello was captured on record in 1964 with Jay Robinson as Iago and on video in 1981 with Ron Moody as Iago. The 1982 Broadway staging starred James Earl Jones as Othello and Christopher Plummer as Iago.