Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello (c.1601 – 1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a man several years her senior. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona accompanies him. There, her husband is manipulated by his ensign Iago into believing she is an adulteress, and, in the last act, she is murdered by her estranged spouse.
The role has attracted notable actresses through the centuries and has the distinction of being the role performed by Margaret Hughes, the first actress to appear on an English public stage.
Desdemona becomes the title character in a 2011 play written by Toni Morrison, revolving around Desdemona's relationship with the African nurse who raised her. The play arose from a collaboration between Morrison, director Peter Sellars, and musician Rokia Traoré.
Read more about Desdemona: Source, Role in Othello, Cuts in Performance, Performance History