2017-06-16 Fri

The adjacent 50 Dirham stamp was issued by Fujairah on 13th January 1969 to commemorate the love of Othello- a general of the Venetian army and Desdemona- Senator Brabantio’s daughter.

The story starts when Othello chooses Cassio as his lieutenant instead of Iago who plans to seek revenge along with Roderigo who is jealous of Othello’s position and to whom Iago owns money. One day they informed Brabantio that his daughter has secretly married Othello. Outraged, he decides to kill Othello but Desdemona’s confirmation that she was in this equally and not tricked into it forces the Duke to make Brabantio accept the marriage.

Soon Othello, Desdemona, Iago, his wife Emilia, Roderigo and Cassio leave to fight in the battle of Cyprus. When they reach there, there is no war and only some party going on. However, during the journey, Roderigo informs Iago that he is lovesick for Desdemona. Iago promises to give him Desdemona; it was to avenge Othello.

Iago gets Cassio really drunk one night and Othello fires him. Meanwhile, Iago asks Desdemona to convince Othello to give Cassio his job back while also planting seeds of suspicion in Othello’s mind and warns him to keep an eye on Desdemona. Othello returns to his suite and Desdemona plays with him lovingly using a “special handkerchief”, later called “the handkerchief of death”.

Emilia steals the handkerchief for Iago who places it in Cassio’s bedroom. When Cassio finds it, he gifts it to a prostitute he likes- Bianca, who returns it as it belonged to some other lady. Seeing the handkerchief, Othello gets furious and kills Desdemona that night. On the other hand, Iago informs Roderigo to kill Cassio between midnight and 1 am tonight if he wants Desdemona.

Roderigo tries to stab Cassio, fails, gets stabbed himself; Iago sneaks up and stabs Cassio in the leg. Two Venetian gentlemen run in at the sound of Cassio's screaming. Iago pretends he just stumbled in himself, declares Roderigo to be the assailant, and stabs Roderigo to death. Emilia enters and Iago lies and instructs her to inform Othello and Desdemona about the news.

In this moment of confusion, Emilia reports (incorrectly) to Othello that Cassio killed Roderigo. Othello is furious to find Cassio still alive. Emilia finally puts two and two together and realizes her own husband is the cause of everyone's tragedy.

As people pour into the room, Emilia outs Iago for being a rat. Iago promptly stabs his wife, but not so promptly that the truth can't come out first. Othello demands to know why Iago ruined his entire life, but Iago refuses to give him a good reason. The Venetian gentlemen decide to take Othello back to Venice to face his punishment for killing his wife, and Cassio inherits Othello's post in Cyprus. Othello, overwhelmed by grief, decides to end his life rather than live without Desdemona.

Mintage World is proud to present a stamp set of eternal love stories depicted on stamps like Helen and Paris, Orpheus and Eurydice, Eros and Psyche and Napoleon and Josephine. Read on!