He invented Desdemona's father, Brabantio, and her dissolute Venetian admirer, Roderigo. While Shakespeare followed Cinthio's tale very closely in composing Othello, he deviated significantly in some details. Cinthio also drew a moral (which he placed in the mouth of the lady) that Italian women are unwise to marry men whose nature and habitude of life are foreign. Both he and the ensign escape immediate prosecution but are killed much later. Unlike Shakespeare's Othello, the Moor in Cinthio's story never repents the murder of his wife. In the original, the ensign lusts after Disdemona and is spurred to revenge when she rejects him. The other characters are identified only as the Moor, the ensign, the ensign's wife, and the squadron leader. Léone Teyssandier notes that it may indeed be how Othello views his wife, calling her an 'ill-starred wench'. The name derives from Greek δυσ + δαίμων, which means 'ill-fated, unfortunate', i.e. The only named character in Cinthio's story is 'Disdemona'.

Cinthio's tale may have been based on an actual incident occurring in Venice about 1508. While no English translation of Cinthio was available in print during Shakespeare's lifetime, it is possible that Shakespeare knew both the Italian original, Gabriel Chappuy's 1584 French translation, and an English translation in manuscript. Othello has its source in the 1565 tale ' Un Capitano Moro' in Gli Hecatommithi, by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. Desdemona Cursed by her Father ( Desdemona maudite par son père) by Eugène Delacroix, Brooklyn Museum

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