CYPRUS - The details are still unclear, but a complex web of homicides and suicides played out in Cyprus.

It seems that a purely villainous ensign, Iago, has caused the deaths of at least four individuals.

After unsuccessfully vying for lieutenantship of the general of the

Venetian Army, Iago apparently got the newly appointed lieutenant, Michael Cassio, drunk at an army revel and then sent his rich friend and in effect pawn, Rodrigo, to taunt Cassio into fighting.

After this, a story develops downs a path of criminally heinous acts.

As a result, Cassio was put in a bad light to the Moorish general of the Venetian Army, Othello. Cassio attempted to reconcile with the general by sending him musicians and appealed to Othello’s wife, Desdemona, to try to use her influence to make Othello reinstate him as lieutenant.

Iago reportedly coerced Othello, into believing his wife, Desdemona, had committed adultery with Othello’s lieutenant, Michael Cassio.

Othello became enraged with his wife’s entreaties to reinstate Cassio, and further suspects his wife after she was unable to produce her handkerchief that Othello had long ago given her as a first gift.

Later testimony by a man named Lodovico revealed that Iago had acquired the handkerchief and had planted it Cassio’s room as supposed evidence of Desdemona’s betrayal for Othello to discover.

Iago convinced Othello of his wife’s guilt to the extent that he eventually went into seizures and began to behave neurotically, blindly believing Iago and deliriously plotting to murder both Cassio and Desdemona. Iago enlisted Rodrigo to kill Cassio, but Rodrigo reportedly failed at his task and got wounded. Then Iago entered the room under disguise, wounding Cassio and then escaping. He later reentered, flying into a pretend rage in discovering Rodrigo’s attempted murder and continued to murder Rodrigo.

In the meantime, Othello consummated his revenge on his wife in their Cyprus bedroom, despite her pleas of innocence. The bedroom became a double homicide-suicide scene as Iago, his wife, Cassio, and other members of the army and entered the room to conclude the ordeal. Iago’s wife, who was also Desdemona’s attendant, vindicated Desdemona and was subsequently killed by Iago, who was captured. Finally, Othello, realizing his wife’s innocence and his own blunders, was overcome with guilt and took his own life and died next to his wife.

Reporters arrived to a gruesome scene of weapons, bodies and distraught men.

Othello seems to have died with popular support, and an outpouring of public sympathy for him and his wife has been displayed throughout the Mediterranean.

Graziano was named successor as general to Othello immediately. Other than the new general, the new organization of the Venetian Army is unclear. “We are currently regretting the loss of Othello and his noble peers and have not yet discussed the future outlook of the army,” a military spokesperson said at a recent press conference. Indeed, the military was celebrating the triumph over the Turkish incursion and is enjoying a relatively peaceful period.

Iago’s is awaiting trial on death row, and his true motivations for his actions are still unknown. His actions are thought to have been notoriously disgraceful to the public. Some see Othello’s status as a relative outsider as a source of hatred for Iago. Other polls have pointed to the dangers of isolation and the incapability of continuing military affairs amid interpersonal relationships of love and respect as the base of the problem.

A funeral service for Othello and Desdemona is planned for this Friday evening at the main chapel in Venice. A memorial fund has been set up in their honor. See the obituaries for more information on the fund and on the funeral services of the other victims.

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