Othello, seemingly, must admire him for this appreciation for life that Cassio possesses, perhaps one of the reasons he promotes Cassio over his long-faithful right hand, Iago. Not always a negative trait to possess, the passion he exhibits is a passion for life, of enjoying every moment and living in the present, as evinced by his rollicking romance with Bianca, his cajoling with Iago, Montano, and the men of the watch, and his overall pleasantry with his superiors and the ladies around him. When Iago first hints at Desdemona’s unfaithfulness, Othello first seeks out “ocular proof” before making any judgments or broaching the subject with his wife.Ĭassio on the flip side is a slave of passion. Where will you that I go / To answer this charge?” (I, i, 83-85). Even when his reputation is at stake, Othello remains calm and calculating, even to the detriment of his wife when accused of betraying Branbantio’s trust and stealing away Desdemona, Othello reacts calmly and without question to the interrogation of the Venetian council: “Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it / Without a prompter. As Spencer says, “Othello appears to all the world as a man who is not passion’s slave (128).
While some would argue that his murder of Desdemona is anything but self-controlled, the attack on his wife is an extremely calculated and planned one, as Othello seeks to rationalize his decision, slanting the proposition in the form of an execution of a strumpet, instead of the murder of an innocent. Othello’s is also a very self-controlled character. Both men deserve and attain recognition for their individual strengths…as they also lose it at various times and in different ways throughout the play.
Cassio has physical beauty and grace Othello has calculating finesse and wisdom. Both men serve as loyal soldiers of the Venetian crown, but Cassio seems to represent the impishness of youth, the suave, debonair, and eye-catching gallantry that attracts lady folk to military men, whilst Othello represents the wisdom, experience, and backbone - both the brains and brawn - of any army’s foundation. Iago acknowledges to Roderigo that Cassio knows not “the division of a battle” (I, i, 23), is “without practice all his soldiership” (27), and is in, the opposite vein, a philosophizer, “a great arithmetician” (19). Indeed, the Venetian council acknowledges his masterful approach to the battlefield as they call him to take command of their fleets against the Turks: “…though we have a substitute of most allowed sufficiency, yet opinion, a more sovereign mistress of effect, throws a more safer voice on you” (I, iii, 222-224).Ĭassio, on the other hand, is a young pup by comparison. The hardships of his enslavement and the experiences of war have made him a calculating, reserved leader who looks at a situation from every angle, who never acts rashly or without understanding all sides. His first entrance on the stage presents him as a wise man, a leader whose experiences have made him all the more observant and patient with the world around him. Harold Bloom goes so far as to say that “Othello has a touch of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in him…there is an authentic nobility in the language of his soul” (Bloom 445). Othello is one of the most dignified and sumptuous characters in Shakespeare’s writings, rivaling such men as Henry V or King Lear in his superiority and aloof grandeur in both mind and body. Most notably in this comparison is young Michael Cassio, a beautifully written foil character to the general in the fact that where Othello possesses these three qualities (and others), Cassio either lacks them entirely or enhances them to the betterment of those around him. This observation demonstrates that these three main traits-grandeur, self-control, and nobility-are key to understanding Othello's complex character, and even more helpful in understanding the contrasts between him and his subordinates.
Theodore Spencer wrote of Shakespeare's Othello, “In presenting the character of Othello to his audience, Shakespeare emphasizes very strongly his grandeur, self-control, and nobility” (Spencer 127-28).
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