Othello is the main character in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. He is a general, a Black man, respected in Venice for his skill in war. He marries Desdemona. His friend Iago — who is no friend at all — slowly feeds him lies, until Othello believes, wrongly, that Desdemona is sleeping with another man. Othello’s jealousy grows until he kills her. The play is a tragedy about trust, race, and a mind talked into ruin. People still use his name as a picture of a husband eaten up by jealousy. Though actually, the story on the page is messier than “a jealous man”: Iago works very hard to make Othello see what is not there, and Othello is also a man who does not fully belong in the city he serves. You will meet the name in literature class, in the theatre, and sometimes in talk about jealousy. It is a proper name, so it takes a capital letter.