Othello: Characters (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
Othello: Characters
Each of the characters in Othello shed light on the prevalent themes of the text, and influence how the audience respond to the ideas presented in the tragedy. When revising William Shakespeare’s Othello for your English Literature exam, try to focus not only on the key traits of each character but also on how they interact with one another.
Ideas to consider when discussing characters include:
How characters are established
How characters are presented:
Physical appearance or suggestions about this
Their actions and motives
What they say (and do not say)
How they interact with others
What others say and think about them
How far the characters conform to or subvert stereotypes
Below you will find character profiles of:
Main characters
Othello
Desdemona
Iago
Emilia
Cassio
Bianca
Brabantio
Examiner Tip
Your exam paper will contain an extract that will hold some significance to the play as a whole. Examiners will always award the highest marks to those students who understand the dynamics and nuances of interactions between characters. This is a particularly important aspect of the extract question, which requires that you respond in detail to a brief section of the play. For example, if you are presented with an extract from Act 2 Scene 3 that features Iago getting Cassio intoxicated, prior knowledge of Cassio's promotion and Iago's response to it is essential.
It is also important for candidates to remember that an audience has already seen the events that lead up to the extract. While Emilia is shocked at the discovery of Iago’s villainous plot in Act 5 Scene 2, Shakespeare’s audience will not be surprised: the audience have known of Iago’s villainy since the start of the play.
Othello
Othello, the play’s protagonist, is a Moor, and a successful general in the Venetian military:
Othello’s precise race is left ambiguous, as the term “Moor” was used in Early Modern England to describe people from both Africa and Arabia:
Some of Iago’s insulting descriptions of Othello, such as “the thicklips” and “Barbary horse” (Act 1 Scene 1), seem to draw from racist stereotypes of Africans
However, these descriptions (and those from Brabantio and Roderigo) come from the play’s antagonists and are therefore unreliable
Othello is the only explicitly black character in the play, and the only black protagonist in Shakespeare’s oeuvre:
This reflects the fact that Africans were a tiny minority in Shakespeare’s England
Although there were good trading relations between Morocco and England, most of Shakespeare’s audience would never have met or interacted with black people
This makes Othello stand out as unusual, especially because of his esteemed social status
Othello defies the cultural expectations of Moors in terms of his status and nobility:
Before he appears on stage, the audience are led by Iago, Roderigo, and Brabantio to expect a stereotypical immoral, bombastic, lustful figure
When we meet the “Valiant Othello” (Act 1 Scene 3), though, he quickly proves himself to be a worthy figure whose race is presented as a positive:
Although he is a cultural and racial outsider, he is a Christian, he occupies a position of authority and respect and has married a wealthy Venetian woman
His skill as a soldier and leader is valuable and necessary to the state, and the Venetian government trusts Othello to put him in full martial and political command of Cyprus
He is descended from a royal line, and freed himself from slavery
He captivates his peers with his speech, despite humbly professing to be “Rude” in his speech and “little blessed with the soft phrase of peace” (Act 1 Scene 3)
The Duke’s reply to Othello’s speech about how he wooed Desdemona with his tales of adventure emphasises how accepted or desirable Othello is: “I think this tale would win my daughter too” (Act 1 Scene 3)
It is only because of the machinations of Iago that Othello eventually demonstrates traits associated with negative stereotypes of Africans:
Iago provokes Othello into a murderous rage in which the Moor becomes inarticulate, violent, and easily led
Shakespeare does not directly connect these behaviours to Othello’s race, and his behaviour mirrors that of Shakespeare's other tragic heroes such as Hamlet and Macbeth
In Cyprus, Othello believes Iago’s lies about Desdemona’s adultery, and kills her before killing himself:
It is ironic that Othello believes the “honest Iago” (Act 1 Scene 3) over his own wife on the basis of Iago’s honest appearance and his misinterpretation of the events that he sees only from a distance involving Desdemona, Cassio, and the handkerchief:
Othello’s presentation early in the play and his defence against Brabantio’s accusations in Act 1 Scene 3 highlights the importance of not accepting what one is told about people and events at face value
Desdemona’s defence of Othello’s character in Act 1 Scene 3 reiterates the significance of looking beneath the surface: she “saw Othello’s visage in his mind”
Othello, however, accepts Iago’s version of events at face value almost without question, and murders his wife without ever receiving the “ocular proof” that he alleges is so important (Act 3 Scene 3)
Othello’s death might be interpreted either as the noble final act of a tragic hero, or as a self-serving and desperate act:
Once Iago’s plot has been revealed, Othello’s moment of anagnorisis leaves him remorseful in the extreme:
He seems to accept responsibility for his actions and sees himself as worthy of death and torture: “Whip me, ye devils … roast me in sulphur” (Act 5 Scene 2)
He kills himself with the same sword that he once used to defend Venice from its enemies
In the classical tragedies on which Othello is based, the suicide of a protagonist was often treated as a sign of nobility
Shakespeare therefore seems to rehabilitate the Moor in his final moments on stage
However, his final speech might also be interpreted as an expression of vanity:
He insists that observers “speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate / Nor set down aught in malice” suggesting that Othello believes his good deeds might cancel out the bad
Othello reminds the Venetians before his death of the “service” he has done their state and frames himself as “an honourable murderer”
He blames “fate” and being “Perplexed in the extreme”, suggesting that he does not accept full responsibility for his actions
Desdemona
The wealthy young daughter of the Venetian senator Brabantio, Desdemona secretly marries Othello before the play begins:
Brabantio describes his daughter as pure and meek, a stereotypical maiden:
She is her father’s “jewel” and “never bold” (Act 1 Scene 3) which highlight the traditional place of women as male property with no true volition of their own
Desdemona proves her father’s opinion of her to be inaccurate when she defends herself in Act 1 Scene 3:
She supports Othello’s claim that Desdemona was “half the wooer” in their relationship, showing a boldness of spirit that her father denies she possesses
She points out her determination to “consecrate” her “soul and fortunes” to Othello in lines of poetic and romantic iambic pentameter
Her eloping should not, however, be misinterpreted as a revolutionary act of female independence:
She tells the Venetian court that her “heart’s subdued”, revealing that she simply exchanged subservience as a daughter for subservience as a wife
Although Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona may also betray him, the central plot of the tragedy revolves around the fact that she is chaste, faithful, and innocent of deception
It is cruelly ironic that her fate is reduced from the determined and self-possessed woman of Act 1 Scene 3 to what her father first describes her as:
Othello’s abusive treatment transforms Desdemona into a meek, defenceless girl, silenced as a result of oppressive male pride
Desdemona is revealed early on to be sexually assertive:
Prior to marrying him, she devoured Othello’s stories “with a greedy ear”:
She clearly initiated their courtship, something that Othello seems only to have realised after her sizeable “hint”
In Act 2 Scene 1 she jests bawdily with Iago, and makes an admiring reference to Lodovico in Act 4 Scene 3
Her active sexuality is necessary to the play: it allows Iago to sow seeds of doubt in Othello’s mind regarding her chastity
Her virtue and absolute love for Othello makes her Iago’s most tragic victim:
She is frequently presented as a paragon of chastity and female virtue, who responds with dignity to Othello’s incomprehensible jealousy:
Even in Act 4 Scene 3, after being treated appallingly by Othello, she accepts and defends his authority over her
She also defends her own honour throughout the play, maintaining in Act 4 Scene 2 that “By heaven, you do me wrong”
The reference to “heaven” underlines her virtue
Iago manipulates her good nature by engineering the means to have her speak to Othello on behalf of the disgraced Cassio:
She does so believing that she is acting in her husband’s interests, but inadvertently gives Iago an opportunity to question her interest in the dismissed lieutenant
Ultimately, Iago uses Desdemona’s “goodness” as the “net / That shall enmesh them all”
Iago
Iago is Othello’s trusted ensign and the chief antagonist of the tragedy, who seeks to destroy Othello by poisoning his mind against Desdemona:
Brabantio and Roderigo are antagonists to a lesser extent, but both are merely pawns in Iago’s plot against Othello
He is willing to take revenge on anyone (Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Roderigo, even Emilia) at the slightest provocation and enjoys the pain and damage he causes
He is the most heinous villain or the most petty in Shakespeare’s works, consumed by jealousy and hatred but seemingly without any convincing motivation:
In Act 1 Scene 2, he claims to be angry at Othello for choosing the younger, less experienced Cassio for the position of lieutenant:
However, Iago continues to plot against Othello even after the Moor dismisses Cassio and makes Iago lieutenant in Act 3 Scene 3
In Act 1 Scene 3 Iago claims that there are rumours of Othello having an affair with his wife, Emilia:
He mentions this suspicion again in Act 2 Scene 1, and claims that he lusts after Desdemona because he wants retribution against Othello “wife for wife”
At no point, though, does Iago show any true interest in having an affair with Desdemona, nor does his revenge plot make this a realistic possibility
Part of what makes him such a compelling villain, then, is that his scheming seems to arise from him being inherently evil:
In Act 1 Scene 3, Iago states simply, “I hate the Moor” which encapsulates his pure, unambiguous malice
Iago may be aware that the heinous things he says about Othello, Cassio, and Desdemona are untrue, but he says them nonetheless because he understands his desire for revenge demands some form of justification
Iago’s final malevolent act is to deny Othello, his Venetian captors and the audience any explanation for his behaviour:
He demonstrates his gloating, egotistical nature when he tells his captors that “I will never speak a word”
In doing so, he denies the audience a final piece of the narrative jigsaw that might allow for a satisfactory resolution to the tragedy
He is a masterful manipulator of others, and can adapt his speech and behaviour to play whatever role is required of him:
He shifts between poetic, rhetorically powerful blank verse and conversational prose more frequently than any other character in the play:
In dialogue with Roderigo and Cassio, he speaks in fast-moving, witty prose
In Act 3 Scene 3, he mimics Othello’s blank verse style in a manner that highlights the strength of his persuasive skill
Iago’s manipulation of Othello is so effective in Act 3 Scene 3 that by the end of the scene the two complete one another’s lines of iambic pentameter, suggesting Othello is utterly under Iago’s spell
The audience first see him manipulate Roderigo by preying on the hapless Venetian’s unrequited love for Desdemona:
He uses Roderigo for his money, referring to Roderigo as his “purse”
When Roderigo outlives his usefulness and threatens to reveal Iago’s plots against Othello, Iago kills him without hesitation
With Othello, Iago plays the role of an honest friend in order to cultivate the Moor’s trust in him:
He pretends that he would like to cudgel Othello’s detractors in Act 1 Scene 2
He feigns reluctance to describe Cassio’s part in the drunken brawl in Act 2 Scene 3
In Act 3 Scene 3 he feigns a reluctance to speak ill of Desdemona that compels Othello to imagine the very worst of his wife
With Cassio, he is plain-spoken and friendly when offering plausible (but ill-intended) advice in Act 2 Scene 3
His wooing convinces Emilia to steal the handkerchief from Desdemona, despite Emilia not knowing or understanding why her husband desires it
Iago’s cruelty towards women, and his apparent lack of true motivation for his determination to destroy Othello’s marriage, has led some to suspect that Iago may secretly be in love with Othello:
At the end of Act 3 Scene 3, Iago swears to Othello: “I am your own for ever”:
This line may simply represent another of Iago’s lies, but the wording is nevertheless a curiously romantic means of pledging allegiance
Emilia
Emilia is Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s lady in waiting and these two positions mean her loyalties are divided:
She is manipulated by Iago into stealing Desdemona’s handkerchief:
She knows that Desdemona “so loves the token”, but bows to the demands of her husband who “hath a hundred times / Wooed me to steal it” (Act 3 Scene 3)
Emilia’s loyalty is tested again in Act 3 Scene 4 when, in the service of her husband’s “fantasy” (Act 3 Scene 3), she pretends that she does not know where the missing token has gone
In Act 5 Scene 2 Emilia reveals the truth of the handkerchief, finally placing her loyalty to Desdemona above her subservience to Iago
A cynical, worldly woman, she has an assertive female voice and uses it to educate Desdemona:
She seems to speak from bitter experience when she tells Desdemona that men “are all but stomachs, and we all but food” (Act 3 Scene 4)
She also tries to convince a sceptical Desdemona that women have the same right to revenge that men do
Iago treats Emilia in a controlling, abusive manner:
We only see the couple alone together once, in Act 3 Scene 3:
In this brief exchange, Iago is dismissive of his “foolish wife” until he realises that she has the handkerchief that he craves
He calls his wife a fool twice in the play (Act 3 Scene 3 and Act 5 Scene 2), and uses contemptuous language on several other occasions
In Act 4 Scene 2, for example, he responds sharply to her: “Speak within doors”
When Emilia ultimately betrays him, he calls her a “Villainous whore” and “Filth” (Act 5 Scene 2)
His behaviour towards Emilia makes it all the more satisfying that she is the one responsible for his downfall
The audience cannot be certain how much of Iago’s revenge plot Emilia knew or suspected:
Emilia’s shock in Act 5 Scene 2 as she realises the horrors committed by her husband suggests that she was unaware of Iago’s true intentions:
This is important, as her role in the denouement of the tragedy requires that the audience see Emilia as sympathetic
However, the audience may also wonder why she did not give any thought to why Iago desired the handkerchief, or why she remained silent when she detected Iago’s “villainy” (Act 5 Scene 2) after giving it to him
Cassio
Cassio is a young and inexperienced soldier who is promoted by Othello to the role of lieutenant:
Iago resents Cassio’s success and belittles him as a mere “arithmetician”:
Iago also resents the “daily beauty” of Cassio’s life (Act 5 Scene 1), implying that Iago’s jealousy is the result of more than Cassio’s promotion, and has perhaps been developing for a long period of time
Although Cassio is undoubtedly devoted to Othello, the audience are given reason to question his military judgement:
Placed in charge of the festivities in Act 2 Scene 3, Cassio is manipulated by Iago into a drunken fight with Roderigo
His undignified behaviour creates alarm and causes Othello to remove him from his post
By engineering the situation, Iago demonstrates his superiority as a strategic thinker
Cassio’s becomes miserable and desperate when he is dismissed from his post:
Ashamed, he laments that he has “lost my reputation … and what remains is bestial” (Act 2 Scene 3):
Cassio’s obsession with his reputation seems to mirror Othello’s obsession with Desdemona, and with the loss of his reputation that being a cuckold would entail
His misery and subsequent misplaced trust in Iago also mirrors Othello’s heartbreak and reliance upon Iago when he believes that Desdemona has been unfaithful
Cassio’s reference to “bestial” anticipates Othello’s own descent into beast-like behaviour when he is overcome by grief, jealousy, and rage
Cassio’s shame reflects the importance of reputation to men during the early modern period
Cassio’s love for and service to Othello become the means by which Iago turns Othello against him:
Cassio acted as a go-between during the courtship of Othello and Desdemona:
Iago draws upon this history in Act 3 Scene 3, making the Moor perceive an act of loyalty as an example of treachery
Iago uses Cassio’s youth, good looks, and friendship with Desdemona to play on Othello’s insecurities about Desdemona’s fidelity
Shakespeare emphasises Cassio’s gallantry at several points:
In Act 2 Scene 1 Cassio praises Desdemona and asks the men at the Cyprus port to kneel to her
Cassio is quick to praise Othello’s positive qualities, even after Othello has murdered Desdemona and killed himself:
He proclaims Othello to be “great of heart”, and praises the “valiant Moor” Act 5 Scene 2)
He is made governor of Cyprus at the end of the play, suggesting that Cassio’s honesty and judgement are valued as leadership qualities
However, Shakespeare also shows Cassio to have some unsavoury qualities, particularly in relation to his treatment of women:
His treatment of Bianca, his courtesan, is sometimes gentle but often callous:
He abuses her with contemptuous names, such as “bauble” and “fitchew” (Act 4 Scene 1)
He dismisses Bianca in Act 3 Scene 4 because he does not want to be found “womaned”
He may also be considered cowardly for enlisting Emilia and Desdemona to plead his case to Othello
Instead of maintaining his position when Othello approaches, Iago sees Cassio “steal away so guilty-like”
Minor Characters:
Roderigo
A jealous suitor of Desdemona, Roderigo is young, rich, and foolish
He is convinced that if he continued to give Iago money, Iago will help him win Desdemona’s hand
He is integral to Iago’s plan to discredit Cassio: at Iago’s behest, he initiates the fight with a drunken Cassio in Act 2 Scene 3
He begins to suspect that Iago is deceiving him, and keeps detailed notes of Iago’s instructions on his person
He is ultimately desperate enough to agree to help Iago kill Cassio after Iago points out that Cassio is another potential rival for Desdemona
His attack in Cassio fails, but Iago turns the situation to his advantage by murdering Roderigo
Roderigo’s notes about Iago are discovered in Act 5 Scene 2, and their contents help to incriminate Iago
Bianca
Bianca is a Cypriot courtesan who is in love with Cassio, a regular client
By virtue of her profession, she is the lowest-status character in the play
Although her profession makes her morally dubious, she proves herself to be more honest and true than the outwardly honourable men who abuse her
Cassio teases her with promises of marriage, but is unwilling to marry a courtesan
Bianca is resigned to her powerlessness, and accepts the authority Cassio wields over her (Act 3 Scene 4)
Bianca misinterprets Cassio’s possession of the handkerchief as evidence that he has been having an affair with another woman
Cassio and Bianca eventually reconcile, as Cassio is on his way to meet with her before Roderigo attacks him in Act 5 Scene 1
The relationship between Bianca and Cassio is the only romantic relationship to survive the tragedy intact
Brabantio
Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, is a self-important Venetian senator
A former friend of Othello, Brabantio feels betrayed when the general marries his daughter in secret
He interrupts Othello’s meeting with the Venetian council, putting his private affairs before matters of state
Like Othello, he is used to commanding others, and humiliated when the Duke of Venice shows greater respect for Othello than for Brabantio
Forced by the Duke to reconcile himself to Desdemona’s marriage, he warns Othello to beware a similar “gross revolt” by his daughter
He clearly loves his daughter, and has fended off the advances of unworthy suitors like Roderigo, but is disgusted by the idea of “Bond-slaves” rising to the level of “statesmen” (Act 1 Scene 3)
He dies offstage while grieving for his lost daughter; it is ironic that both he and Othello die mourning the loss of Desdemona
Examiner Tip
High-grade responses to the essay question demonstrate awareness of how the relationships between characters are presented over the course of the whole play. Make sure that you know the events of Othello well enough that you can track how relationships develop through key scenes across the play. This will help you to discuss, for example, the changing dynamic between Othello and Desdemona, the gradual influence of Iago on Othello, or the shifting loyalty of Emilia to Desdemona. Remember to make good use of well-chosen textual evidence (which can include careful paraphrasing instead of direct quotations) to explain how characters see one another, as well as how the audience is guided to respond to them.
Sources:
Shakespeare, William (1975). Othello. Oxford: Clarendon Press
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