The Turkish-Venetian War in OthelloAccording to AL Rowse, William Shakespeare's Othello is one of the most perfect plays ever written (13). There is virtually nothing in it that doesn't contribute to plot or character development (unlike Hamlet, which is filled with a large cast, complexity, and subplots). GB Harrison agrees that the construction is perfect (1058). Only two brief scenes with a clown in Act III don't seem to move the play forward. That, and a strange plot element: the Turkish war and the change of location from Venice to Cyprus. If the play is simply about Iago convincing a jealous Othello that his wife is sleeping with Cassio, why bother having a war between Act I and Act II? None of the characters are killed or injured during the war, nor does the policy of the Venetian takeovers affect the plot (in Act IV, scene 1, Lodovico suggests that Othello is angry because he has been called home, but we know that he is really angry because he thinks that his wife is cheating on him), nor are there any speeches expounding the glories or horrors of war, as there are in Henry V and Julius Caesar. Why then, in this perfect of theatrical works, is there such an important element as war? What possible relevance might it have to Iago's plots and Othello's jealous rage? I maintain that the war is extremely important: it is the real crux of the entire plot. When we first meet Othello, he is the epitome of a calm, confident, and non-defiant military general, more concerned with honor, virtue, and his social standing than with wars and battles. His very first line is, “It's better the way it is” (1.2.6). This is a conservative, happy man, actually against violence. Notice how he breaks up the fight between…half of the paper…with the Introduction. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1985.Shakespeare, William. Othello. In Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996.http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No lines nos.Vaughan, Virginia Mason and Kent Cartwright, eds. Othello: new perspectives. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press, 1991.Wayne, Valerie. "Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello." The question of difference: materialist feminist criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991. Wright, Louis B., and Virginia A. LaMar. “The Engaging Qualities of Othello.” Readings on tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from the Introduction to the Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. NP: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.