Othello

As one of Desdemona’s rejected suitors, Iago tricks Roderigo into giving Iago most of his money and manipulates him into ruining Cassio’s career before attempting to murder him. When Roderigo begins to suspect Iago is using him, Iago kills him. Roderigo’s lust for Desdemona, and Iago’s promise that he will help gratify it, drives most of his behavior.

Brabantino is a Venetian senator and Desdemona’s father. Brabantio is horrified that his daughter has eloped with Othello because of his race, but reluctantly accepts the marriage when Desdemona attests to her love for Othello before the senate. Brabantio’s bigotry and misogyny—he warns Othello that if Desdemona would trick her father she would also trick her husband—echoes Iago’s and provides a framework of Othello’s insecurities for Iago to exploit. Brabantio dies before Desdemona’s murder, allegedly from sorrow over her marriage.

Desdemona is a Venetian woman who falls in love with the much-older Othello by listening to tales of his life at her father’s dinner table. Desdemona is good-natured and clever, and her elopement with Othello after passing up many Venetian suitors demonstrates that she has a strong will. Othello states that he loves Desdemona for her mind. Later, Othello murderers her in a misconstrued jealous rage, and she remains loyal to him, even in death.

As Othello’s new lieutenant, Cassio is well-spoken, attractive, and an object of envy to Iago. Though usually well-mannered, Cassio is prone to short-temperedness, a quality Iago exploits so that he, in a drunken scuffle with Roderigo, loses his position. Cassio is respectful towards Desdemona, but ridicules Bianca, the prostitute who is in love with him. By planting evidence, lying, and staging a misleading conversation with Cassio, Iago convinces Othello that Cassio is Desdemona’s lover. Cassio survives Iago’s plot to kill him, and at the end of the play, he takes Othello’s place as governor of Cyprus.

Emilia is Iago’s wife and an attendant and confidante to Desdemona. Emilia unwittingly helps Iago frame Cassio by giving him Desdemona’s dropped handkerchief, which Iago plants in Cassio’s bedroom. When she learns that Othello suspects Desdemona of cheating on him, Emilia acts as Desdemona’s advocate, insisting on her innocence. She holds a grimmer view of marriage than Desdemona and explains Othello’s sudden viciousness towards her as part of the natural course of husbands revealing their true selves only after the wedding. She confronts Othello after he murders Desdemona, heedless of his drawn sword. She similarly defies her husband, refuses to be silent or to go home, and exposes his plot, even after he also draws his sword on her. Iago kills her as a result of her allegiance to Desdemona and her insistence on the truth over obedience to her husband.

Montano is the governor of Cyprus before Othello’s arrival. Cassio wounds him after he tries to break up the fight between him and Roderigo, resulting in Cassio’s demotion.

Bianca is a Cyprus woman who prostitutes herself for food and clothing. She falls in love with Cassio, who is one of her customers. After Roderigo wounds Cassio, Iago attempts to blame Bianca, a woman of low social status, for ordering Cassio’s murder.

Lodovico is a Venetian and a relative of Brabantio and Desdemona. When Lodovico arrives with a letter from Venice ordering Othello’s return and Cassio’s promotion to governor of Venice, Othello is enraged and strikes Desdemona, shocking Lodovico. At the end of the play, Lodovico questions Othello and Cassio, which pieces together Iago’s entire plot for the characters that remain.