Minor Characters in Othello Flashcards
Who is Cassio?
a florentine soldier who is promoted by Othello to the post of lieutenant, he acted as a go between during the courtship of Othello and Desdemona, he is disgraced when he is involved in a drunken brawl but is made governor of Cyprus at the end of the play
“a great arithmetician, one Michael Cassio, a Florentine”
1.1 Iago presents Cassio as an inexperienced soldier, the reference to Florence, however, reveals that he is part of the fashionable society that Othello wishes to be a part of
“handsome, young and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after”
2.1 Iago is jealous of Cassio as he has surpassed him for the role of lieutenant, Iago also realises that Cassio can make Othello easily jealous (“green eyed monster”
“he hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly”
5.1 Iago about Cassio
“Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation, I have lost the immortal part of myself - and what remains is bestial”
2.3 Cassio’s obsession with reputation mirrors that of Othello’s, his sorrow of losing his his profession foreshadows Othello’s misery when he thinks he has lost Desdemona’s love, the reference to being bestial foreshadows Othello’s downfall - Othello becomes bestial when he avenges his masculine honour. Unlike Othello, Cassio still speaks in iambic pentameter following the loss of reputation, almost foreshadows the fact that he is promoted at the end of the play
“O, behold,/ the riches of the ship us come on shore”
2.1 Cassio’s charm and courtesy, welcoming Desdemona to Cyprus (“with as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio”)
“I do attend here on the general/ And think it no addition, not my wish,/ To have him see me womaned”
3.4 although Cassio is the most noble and coutly of the men in the play he is still abusive in his treatment of Bianca
“he was great of heart”
5.2 Cassio about Othello
Who is Brabantio?
a Venetian senator and Desdemona’s father
“a gross revolt”
1.1 Brabantio sees Desdemona’s elopement as going against the natural order, establishes the potential for Tragedy
“foul thief”
1.2 Brabantio about Othello
“You are the lord of my duty, I am hitherto your daughter. But here’s my husband”
1.3 Desdemona “perceive here a divided duty” as her loyalties switch from Brabantio to Othello
“look to her moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father and may thee”
1.3 Brabantio’s last words to Othello foreshadow Iago’s manipulation of Othello (“She did deceive her father, marrying you”)
“To fall in love with what she fear’d to look on!”
1.3 Brabantio foreshadows Iago’s manipulation of Othello (“when she seemed to shake and fear your looks, She loved them most”)
“run from her guardage to the sooty bosum”
1.3 Brabantio helps establish the them of race and Othello as an outsider
“for if such actions may have passage free/ Bond slaves and pagans shall our statesmen be”
1.2 Brabantio reminds us of Othello’s background, he has threatened social order by marrying Desdemona and will be punished for this, reveal social attitudes of Jacobean society, establishes the reason for Othello’s hamartia of insecurity
Who is Roderigo?
a wealthy venetian gentlemen who had hoped to marry Desdemona, he is Iago’s first victim, and is exploited for his money and in the plot to kill Cassio
“curled darlings”
1.2 Roderigo represents the suitors that Desdemona rejected
“poor trash of venice”
2.1 Iago exploits Roderigo and uses him as his stooge, allows for dramatic irony as it is in their exchanges that Iago’s plot is revealed to the audience
“If thou canst cuckold him,/thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. “
1.3 Iago convinces Roderigo to help him in his plan to bring about Othello’s downfall
“O damned Iago! O, inhuman dog!”
5.1 repetition of the ‘O’ evidence of Roderigo’s desperation to curse at Iago, Roderigo realises the truth about Iago too late and is ironically the first to realise his villainy, dog imagery used repeatedly to describe Iago in act 5 (Lodovico: “O spartan dog”)
