Othello - Other Characters

Othello - Other Characters

1. Roderigo

   • Roderigo is a rich, unintelligent guy who thinks that if he sends Desdemona enough expensive presents, she'll fall in love with him. He's hired Iago to be his wingman, but Iago basically uses him as a walking ATM.
   • Iago takes the jewelry Roderigo thinks he's giving to Desdemona and sells it for a profit. All Roderigo does in response is to fall for Iago's smooth talking again and again. In the end, Roderigo dies—stabbed in the back (appropriately enough) by his wingman Iago.

2. Brabantio

   • Desdemona's father, Brabantio, is a rich and important Venetian politician. He likes Othello and invites him to visit his house a lot—but he never expected Othello to "steal" his daughter. Furthermore, he never believed his darling little girl would marry Othello unless she was drugged or under some kind of spell.
   • Brabantio tends to see his daughter as his property, which means that he sees marriage as a potential business transaction. Brabantio's irrational fears about his daughter's interracial marriage make him a central figure in the play's examination of race and sex.

3. Bianca

   • Bianca is a Venetian courtesan who is in love with Cassio... who in turn sees her as a laughable nuisance. Shakespeare's portrayal of Bianca is sympathetic—when Cassio treats her like garbage, it's clear that Shakespeare's making a point about how women get used throughout the play.
   • Because Bianca is a courtesan in a city renowned for prostitution and promiscuity, she's a foil to the chaste and ever-faithful Desdemona. Othello, however, doesn't recognize the difference between these women—he's persuaded that Desdemona is cheating even though there's no real proof.

4. Duke, Senators

   • The important men in charge of Venice. They think Othello's pretty great—and even that he might make a pretty great son-in-law.

5. Lodovico

   • Desdemona's cousin and a member of Venice's diplomatic service, Lodovico arrives in Cyprus just in time to see Desdemona get slapped by her new husband, and then witness the deaths of all the main characters, and the twisted revelations of jealousy and betrayal.

6. Montano

   • Governor of Cyprus before Othello showed up to take command, Montano ends up getting in a fight with Cassio, and in turn gets Cassio in serious trouble.