WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, página 43 de 154

La historia original del moro de Venecia, de Gianbattista Giraldi Cinthio (1565), sirvió a William Shakespeare para crear Otelo, la única de sus "grandes tragedias" basada en una obra de ficción. Contraviniendo la imagen isabelina del "moro", Shakespeare invierte los papeles de los protagonistas y otorga al moro Otelo el caracter de hombre noble y aristocratico, mientras que reserva para el italiano Yago la perversidad y la hipocresia, desarrollando en el uno de los estudios mas profundos del mal. Otelo se presenta como la tragedia de la incomprension, en la que luchan el amor puro, la pasion, el orgullo, los celos, la venganza..., y en la que al final, el protagonista, como un autentico heroe tragico, consciente de su degradacion y de su perdida, escribe su propio epitafio, con la angustia del heroe destrozado.

This brand new edition accurately reproduces the First Folio of the plays of William Shakespeare (1623) letter for letter, dot for dot, but does so in modern type. At a stroke, the dust of ages is blown away and what Shakespeare actually intended is revealed to modern readers. With no editorial interference - but also with no quaint typographical quirks - Shakespeareans everywhere, students, actors, directors, can see for themselves what the Folio really says. As a further aid to understanding, on each opposite page, the same text appears but this time in a fully modernised version. This modern edition offers a useful safety net whenever the Folio becomes problematic. Each volume, scrupulously edited by Shakespeare scholar Nick de Somogyi, also contains two introductions - one to the series, one to the particular play - textual notes, an appendix giving variant versions from the Quarto where appropriate, and a facsimile page from the First Folio.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and later went to London, where he became an actor and playwright with the Lord Chamberlain's Men, as well as a poet. His plays are timeless explorations of the human condition, and his dramatic immediacy, poetic imagination, tragic perspectives, compassion, irony and humour make him one of our greatest writers.