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Othello | Why does Shakespeare choose Venice for the opening scenes of Othello?

Othello is one of two plays in which Shakespeare uses Venice as a setting, the other being The Merchant of Venice. In both cases, Shakespeare depicts a thriving commercial society in which the inhabitants pursue luxury and see the world in mercantile terms, as for example, when Iago says that he knows his own "price" in the play's first scene. In both plays, attention is brought to the integral function of outsiders in Venetian society; Venice needs Shylock's borrowable ducats and Othello's military prowess. Above all, Venice has a duke and a council of senators, but it has...

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