It might be seen as racist, antifeminist, perhaps even militaristic, depending on one's ideology. For Shakespeare, there were likely no such scruples. He borrowed the plot from a 16th-century Italian poet, along with, possibly, a geographical history of Africa and a translation of the Roman historian Pliny. But out of those scholastic ingredients he fashioned one of the most entrancing, agonizing studies of jealousy in the whole of English literature....

Othello appoints Cassio as his chief lieutenant, arousing the jealosy of Iago, who conspires to undo them both. Iago tells Othello that his wife, the beautiful Desdemona, is having an affair with Cassio.