# Summary of Othello, Please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278 "2007-07-26T20:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/1 "2007-07-26T20:09:29Z")
Hi, Friends: I’m going to see a production of Othello on Saturday and would like a synopsis. Lest I be accused of cheating, I did read it back in college. I saw the movie version about 10 years ago and thought it most excellent. Anyway, I sat down the other night to re-read it. After 2 nights, I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get myself to focus enough and it just wasn’t enjoyable. I do know the basic story, but I would be grateful if someone would run it by me again. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/2 "2007-07-26T20:12:02Z")
[Othello](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello) (scroll down to "synopsis.) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/3 "2007-07-26T20:12:33Z")
[Wikipedia…it has summaries of EVERYTHING.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othello) ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/4 "2007-07-26T20:19:28Z")
Excellent! Thanks for the amazingly quick responses! This thread can be closed. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/5 "2007-07-26T20:21:00Z")
It’s a version of the old story: boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy kills girl, boy kills self. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/6 "2007-07-26T20:22:48Z")
Throw in a jealous employee and homosexual undertones (according to the Wiki article) and you have the makings of the next big drama on ABC. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/7 "2007-07-26T20:46:31Z")
For a really fun summary find the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “Othello Rap”. It’s hilarious - and pretty accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/8 "2007-07-26T20:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Throw in a jealous employee and homosexual undertones (according to the Wiki article) and you have the makings of the next big drama on ABC. [/QUOTE] Wow, I never picked up on the gay subtext. This is what happens when the head of your high school English department is a very strict Catholic… ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/9 "2007-07-26T22:18:42Z")
[QUOTE=Zoggie] Wow, I never picked up on the gay subtext. This is what happens when the head of your high school English department is a very strict Catholic… [/QUOTE] Pfft, you can read gay subtext into anything. It’s like some kind of new inkblot test. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/10 "2007-07-26T22:28:28Z")
I’ve always wondered: If Othello and Desdemona had had a daughter, would she be a demi-moor? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/11 "2007-07-26T23:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=well he’s back] For a really fun summary find the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “Othello Rap”. It’s hilarious - and pretty accurate. [/QUOTE] “Well Othello loved Desi like Adonis loved Venus, and Desi loved Othello cuz he had a big…sword.” ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/12 "2007-07-26T23:39:04Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] I’ve always wondered: If Othello and Desdemona had had a daughter, would she be a demi-moor? [/QUOTE] _groan!_ I recall a good deal of the subtext focusing on Othello and Iago’s relationship, as well as Othello and Cassio, but Shakespeare was like that. Check out Sebastian and Antonio in _Twelfth Night_, for example, and compare them to Shakespeare’s actual gay couple: Achilles and Patroclus in _Troilus and Cressida_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/13 "2007-07-26T23:45:03Z")
In a phrase? It’s about a man who loved, not wisely, but too well. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summary-of-othello-please/413278/14 "2007-07-26T23:58:01Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] In a phrase? It’s about a man who loved, not wisely, but too well. [/QUOTE] I’ve always thought that was a rather scary thing for Othello to have said. It reminds me of abusers who claim to love their wives/girlfriends even while beating, raping or murdering them. Then again, perhaps it’s meant to be that frightening.