Origin
Othello has its source in the 1565 tale "Un Capitano Moro" from Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's Gli Hecatommithi, a collection of 100 tales in the vein of Boccacio's Decameron. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in Shakespeare's lifetime, it is possible Shakespeare knew both the Italian original and Gabriel Chappuy's 1584 French translation. He may have had access to an English translation in manuscript. Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508.
While the principal characters in Shakespeare's play have their counterparts in Cinthio's tale, Brabantio is Shakespeare's invention. The relatives of Cinthio's Disdemona avenge her death in the closing moments of his tale, but her father is not mentioned as being among them.
Read more about this topic: Brabantio
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