Topic 4: The playwright's main task is to maintain the audience's interest. Consider how this is achieved in Othello. The common goal of playwrights of all times and places is to capture and hold the attention of their audiences. It is an irrefutable fact that for a play to be successful, the playwright must maintain the audience's interest. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is one of Shakespeare's most famous works and has captured the interest of his audiences for many hundreds of years. The success of Othello is largely due to Shakespeare's phenomenal ability to secure the audience's unwavering attention. Various techniques were employed by Shakespeare to achieve this crucial feat. Through the construction of intriguing characters, the exploration of universal themes, the use of comic relief, and a well-written script with a compelling plot, Shakespeare ensured that the tragedy of Othello held the audience's interest. The plot of a play is defined by Aristotle to be "the arrangement of events", and it is therefore logical that the events of Othello play an integral part in sustaining the audience's interest. Shakespeare was clearly well aware of the importance of a good script and a compelling plot, as the tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, is characterized by twists, turns and revelations, each of which captivates and holds the attention of the public. For example, within just one scene of the tragedy, Act IV Scene I, readers and spectators of Othello witness Othello's emotional breakdown, Iago's continued manipulation of the characters, and Lodovico's arrival in Cyprus. The intriguing plot maintains its momentum throughout the play, never giving the audience a chance to focus their attention elsewhere, and thus maintaining their interest until the final line. Essential to the success of Othello is the fact that the issues and themes explored in this tragedy, written by Shakespeare around 1604, are still relevant to modern audiences. Audience interest is captured by themes central to the human condition, as they reflect our world and examine human nature. Othello explores issues of racism, gender, domestic violence, the supernatural, and the pathology of the thoroughly evil person, all of which are extraordinarily relevant to our time. In this way, the interest of the public is maintained, since the issues that concern the spectators and readers of the work stimulate individual opinions, reflections and thoughts..