Malcontented Iago and Revenge Tragedy Conventions in Othello

This essay argues for the inclusion of Othello within the set of revenge tragedies. Othello consistently deploys revenge tragedy tropes not by coincidence but as a result of the play’s often overlooked genre conventions. Literary criticism has undertaken continued redefinition of the genre of Othello over several generations. In following Douglas Bruster’s call for examination of the representation market in Elizabethan drama, I have highlighted several prominent, contemporary dramatic trends that are central to Othello. In writing Othello, Shakespeare draws upon the popularity of revenge tragedies and the figure of the Malcontent, thus creating in Iago a malcontented, revenging villain.