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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello

Desdemona and Otello
Desdemona and Otello
Desdemona and Otello

Leah Crocetto (Desdemona) and Russell Thomas (Otello) in WNO’s Otello. Photo by Scott Suchman.

I find it fascinating that Verdi’s last two operas were both inspired by Shakespeare: Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), yet they are very different in story, style, and tone. Verdi looked to the Bard’s plays of Othello (1604) and the Merry Wives of Windsor (1600), plus the Henry plays, as a catalyst. There are plenty of academic tomes to read on the subject, but what interests me the most is how these two titans were each consumed with the themes of jealousy to drive the stories of these diverse works and how one is a powerful tragedy and the other a poignant comedy of human foibles.

Both operas hinge on the protagonists being tricked by deceit; one with tragic results and one with comedic outcome. In Otello, it is Iago’s insinuating manner that makes Otello believe his wife, Desdemona, to be unfaithful and eventually leads to him murdering her. He demands “ocular proof,” a line that comes from Shakespeare, and Verdi sets it so powerfully – and it is, of course, the famous handkerchief.