Just read: Othello

Another Shakespeare's opus, and another major disappointment. I was so eager to re-live the famous story of jealousy, love and obsession, the mediocre tragedy with unbelievably stupefying plot that hinges on the inability to communicate between 6 cartoonish characters. To wit, Othello never confronts Cassio, instead relying on a hearsay. Iago's wife never talks to the woman she serves (Desdemona) until it is too late. Iago is too busy stealing money from one guy (Roderigo), hating another (Othello) and sleeping with a third one(Cassio). Don't believe me? Here's his story:

...I lay with Cassio lately
And, being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.
There are a kind of men so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs;
One of this kind is Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say, "Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves";
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,
Cry, "O sweet creature!" and then kiss me hard,
As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,
That grew upon my lips; then laid his leg
Over my thigh, and sigh'd and kiss'd; and then
Cried, "Cursed fate that gave thee to the Moor!"

surprisingly in Russian, Iago just spent the night at Cassio's.

... Я как-то ночевал
У Кассио. Яростно болящий зуб
Мешал мне спать.
Есть род людей с расхлябанной душой,
Что и во сне бормочут про свое.
Таков Микеле Кассио. Я услышал,
Как он сказал сквозь сон: "Будь осторожна,
Не выдай нашей тайны, Дездемона".
Он сжал мне руку, вскрикнул: "Дорогая?"
И стал меня так крепко целовать,
Как будто поцелуи с губ моих
Рвал с корнем; а потом закинул ногу
Мне на бедро", вздыхал, ласкал и вскрикнул:
"Проклятый рок, тебя отдавший Мавру!"

It is not Iago, but Desdemona's father Brabantio who sows a seed of jealousy and foretells the plot development early on in Act I, but then strangely disappears off the stage completely, and is only mentioned in passing as a dead guy.

Brabantio. Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:
She has deceived her father, and may thee.

It is a 47 year old Iago who contributes the best lines in the play regarding human nature, the feebleness of loves, women and men. To quote just one:

Iago. To be direct and honest is not safe.
Act III, iii, 375

On the other hand, some passages can be read on so many levels, as can be seen from the following lines:

Othello. Here is my journey's end. Here is my butt.
Act V,ii, 264

Lodovico. O Bloody period!
Act V, ii 353