William Shakespeare is considered among the greatest playwrights who ever lived. He wrote dozens and dozens of brilliant plays, most of which were made into films. One such play that was made into a film is "Othello". The play “Othello” is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. It's about a black general in the Italian army, Othello, and what happened between him and his wife, Desdemona. The main villain in this play is Iago; who is a soldier under Othello's command. Iago tells Othello numerous lies about Desdemona and Othello's friend and former right-hand man, Cassio. Shakespeare covers some of the major issues that society still faces today. These themes such as ethnicity, betrayal, and love are what make this play one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. One of the most obvious themes that Shakespeare discusses in this play is ethnicity. Othello is a Moor who has somehow managed to climb the ladder to the rank of general. At this time in history, blacks were considered barbarians and murderous pagans. It is very rare for a black man to obtain the rank of general in a predominantly Caucasian army. This caused no small amount of jealousy among the other officers serving under Othello. This element may have fueled the fire behind Iago's lies and hatred for Othello. Another example where Othello's ethnicity caused a problem was when he and Desdemona got married. Desdemona's father is furious because his daughter has married a dark-haired man. They even end up turning to an Italian court to resolve the issue. Normally Othello would have been executed for his actions, but because he was needed to lead the army he was allowed to remain married to Desdemona. This decision of the courts is another element that contributed to Iago's betrayal, because if the court had ruled against Othello, Rodrigo would have had no reason to pay Iago to spread his lies and deceptions. The element that Shakespeare uses most in this play is betrayal. There is one person at the center of most of the betrayals that occur in the play: Iago. Iago has no loyalty to anyone in the entire story, not even his wife. At some point he betrays every character. He betrayed Cassio by getting him drunk and shaming him in front of Othello.