Reputation

Reputation

1. Status is dependant on social class

   • Who is deserving?

2. Choice of partner

   • Othello brings Desdemona's reputation down as he is a "moor"

3. Materialistic values

   • Value money, power, honesty, race, purity and appearence
   • Against loss of honour, infidelity and dishonesty
     • Causing a rapid fall down the hierarchy

4. Othello

   • Good reputation as a military general of Venice

5. Iago

   • Believes he should be in Cassio's position
   • "Reputation a most idle and false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving"
     • Iago and Cassio got their reputation without merit and Cassio and Desdemona lost without deserving

6. Money

   • Act 2 references money
     • Reputation can be earned, spent and wasted

7. Cassio

   • "Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial."
   • His reputation was everything to him and he feels dehumanised once it has been stripped

8. False Reputations

   • Othello - barbaric and heathen
   • Iago - honest
   • Desdemona - meek and mild