Othello: The Moor of Venice (original title The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a play by Shakespeare written about 1603. Othello is a tragedy, like Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear. Shakespeare probably wrote Othello after Hamlet but before the last two. The first performance of which the news was held on November 1, 1604 at Whitehall Palace in London.The main character, Othello, piously presented regardless of race. This was unusual in English literature in Shakespeare's time, which described the Moors and other dark-skinned peoples as villains.