Minor Characters In Othello Essay

Have you ever been so affected by someone who did something so small? Whether someone bumped you, and you tripped, or someone caused you to miss the opportunity of a lifetime, small roles play a crucial part in our lives. In Othello, by William Shakespeare, we see how jealousy can make a person go mad with rage, and cause them to completely turn when Othello is tricked by his best friend, Iago, that his wife is sleeping with one of his most trusted lieutenants. The character Cassio shows how a minor character can change the outcome of the play by doing such minor things. This can be seen by Cassio when he fights Roderigo, befriends Desdemona and sleeps with Bianca. The fight between Roderigo, doer of Iago’s dirty work, and Cassio gets Cassio’s position of lieutenant revoked. Cassio allows for Iago trick him into drinking, where he gets so drunk that he fights Roderigo, who Iago set up to pick a fight with. If Cassio had seen the reason in not drinking, because he knows that he has “poor and unhappy brains for drinking” (Shakespeare II.iii.30-31), he may have not fought Roderigo, but he completely ignores reason, and drinks. After his position is taken away, he asks Iago for advice on how to get his job back, and Iago suggests that he befriend Desdemona. When

Iago knew that this was going to happen, and has Othello intentionally overhear the two talk about Desdemona and Cassio together, when they are really talking about Bianca and Cassio sleeping together. This “ocular proof” (III.iii.376) is the final nail in the coffin for Othello to believe in the affair between Cassio and Desdemona. If Cassio had not bragged about his encounter with Bianca, then Othello would not have heard the discussion that sends him over the edge into wanting to murder and his wife and friend for a crime they didn’t