Desdemona - Source

Source

Othello has its source in the 1565 tale, "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in print during Shakespeare's lifetime, it is possible that Shakespeare knew both the Italian original, Gabriel Chappuy's 1584 French translation, and an English translation in manuscript. Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508.

The only named character in Cinthio's story is "Disdemona". The name derives from Greek δυσ + δαίμων, which means "ill-fated, unfortunate", i.e. the antonym of Eudaimonia. Léone Teyssandier notes that it may indeed be how Othello views his wife, calling her an "ill-starred wench".

The other characters are identified only as the Moor, the ensign, the ensign's wife, and the squadron leader. In the original, the ensign lusts after Disdemona and is spurred to revenge when she rejects him. Unlike Shakespeare's Othello, the Moor in Cinthio's story never repents the murder of his wife. Both he and the ensign escape immediate prosecution but are killed much later. Cinthio also drew a moral (which he placed in the mouth of the lady) that European women are unwise to marry the temperamental males of other nations.

While Shakespeare followed Cinthio's tale very closely in composing Othello, he deviated significantly in some details. He invented Desdemona's father, Brabantio, and her dissolute Venetian admirer, Roderigo. He invented the entire first act in which Iago arouses Brabantio's prejudices against Othello, and Desdemona defends her choice of husband before the King.

Shakespeare considerably expanded the role of Cinthio's ensign's wife. In Cinthio, she is simply Disdemona's companion but in Shakespeare she becomes Desdemona's attendant and confidante. In Cinthio, the ensign filches Desdemona's handkerchief from a sash at her waist; his wife is not involved in the mischief as is Shakespeare's Emilia. Later, Cinthio's ensign's wife learns of her husband's villainy in the handkerchief deception but feels constrained to remain silent. Unlike Shakespeare's Emilia, Cintho's ensign's wife lives to tell what she knows of Disdemona's death long after her husband and the Moor are dead.

Desdemona's death in Cinthio is strikingly different from Desdemona's death in Shakespeare. The poet's gentle scene between Desdemona and Emilia while preparing for bed does not exist in Cinthio, and Cinthio's murder of Disdemona is accomplished when the Moor commissions his ensign to bludgeon Disdemona to death with a sand-filled stocking. The two murderers then place her lifeless body upon her bed, smash her skull, and cause the cracked ceiling of the room to collapse upon her, giving the impression that the lady's skull was smashed by falling rafters.