In the second act of Othello, I thought that Cassio's character is very similar to my cousin's personality, Katy. Everyone in the family favors her; just like how Othello favored Cassio over Iago. Cassio wasn't too much of a character, but others still favors them. Even though she's younger, my family thinks that she knows better than her older brother just like how Iago criticized Cassio for lacking of battle experience. Also, he got easily manipulated to fight Roderigo and made him lose his position of being Othello's lieutenant. Shakespeare intentionally used character to show how people can be easily manipulated if influential people tells them what to do, especially if the person is in higher authority. Iago’s character can easily manipulate people; therefore, it was easy for him to make Othello jealous by telling him that Cassio is Desdemona’s type of guy and that they kind of had something for each other.
I agree that Iago is very manipulative, and Cassio gives into Iago because he wants everyone to respect him and knows that Iago can help with that since he has so much battle experience. Cassio wants to be one of the guys, but also respected for his position his holds.
ReplyDeleteI love how you can relate to Cassio's character in a personal matter. Everyone does love Cassio and although he was chosen to be Othello's lieutenant he was easily influenced by Iago to drink. I agree with you that Shakespeare uses this characterization of Cassio to portray that people can be easily influenced especially if influential people tell them what to do. Cassio just wants to please anyone.
ReplyDeleteNice comparison between Cassio and your personal life. I haden't looked at Cassio's character from this point of view. It does seem like Iago should have gotten the position over Cassio. Especially, since we clearly know that Iago has better knowledge of battle. He is also smarter than Cassio in a way because he takes the leadership over Cassio when he does not know what to do about losing his position as leutenant.
ReplyDeleteTo add a little to what you were saying, it's kind of like how we discussed Iago's honesty in class today when you talk about him manipulating Othello. Iago is "honest, good, and virtuous" (etc etc) in the eyes of those around him, and he totally uses that to his advantage. There are times where he absolutely cannot lie, but he's still able to twist the perception of the truth to make it fit his needs and to manipulate people.
ReplyDeleteI pointed out in another blog, too, that Cassio may have felt compelled to drink like Iago was pressuring him to do. Cassio was what we call "green" in the military, a new guy, and probably felt that the senior soldier (Iago) was someone he should impress. We all want to be liked when we join a new group, and Cassio must have known that as an inexperienced officer he needed to make an impression with the soldiers beneath him. Unfortunately, he gave them all the wrong impression because of Iago...
I like how you were able to see the story and characters and their similarities to your own life. It is clear through the story how easily people are manipulated when they are fueled by the right things. Iago finds peoples greatest fears and weaknesses and exposes them to those in order for Iago to get them to do what he wants.
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