Othello Study Guide

Othello Known as the general for the Venice military force and is respected becasue of it. Could be seen as foolish because of how easily Iago drives him insane and makes him believe his wife is cheating on him with no proof. Although his race is different from most of Vienice he is still respected.
Desdamona She is a young naïve girl who is the daughter of senator Barbanzio, she shows throughout the play that she doesnt know how to be in a relationship, which is what makes her naïve.
Iago He is a very decieving character that can always be seen as the villian through out Othello. He has jealousy towards Cassio for being chosen by Othello for lieutenant.
Cassio Cassio is very liked by Othello and is seen as trustworthy and kind by many. He is very touchy of Desdamona, but at the same time is also known as a womanizer. He is decieved by Iago to Othello in order to turn Othello against his friend Cassio and his wife for “cheating”.
Emilia She is the wife of iago, but is very unfaithful/unloving of her husband. She is a servant of Desdemona and is very kind to her, but can be seen as a little mysterious becasu eof how little she comes up throughout the book.
Roderigo Roderigo has a strong love for Desdemona and continuously tries to find a way to win her love although she never really acknowleges him. He goes through iago to achieve his goals of brekaing up Othello and Desi, he does this by using his wealth to pay iago.
Act I The frist act begins with Roderigo and Iago yelling at Barbanzio’s window, they tell him about his daughters marriage to Othello and he immidiately goes to the counsil to talk to his daughter and the counsil about their marriage. Othello promotes Cassio to his second in command over Iago. Iago tells the audience he wants to get revenge on Othello for not promoting him.
Act II As they wait for the ships they find out some Turkish ships have gone down. They wait to see if Othello’s ship has made it. While they wait Iago sets up his plan to make it look like Cassio and Desdemona are sleeping together. Othello returns and has a party for his and Desdemonas marriage. Iago gets Cassio drunk and gets him to fight some of the other guards and Othello demotes Cassio.
Act III Desdemona tries to get Cassio his job back as a favor to him and Emilia. Othello agrees to talk to Cassio. Iago starts his plan and warns Othello about Desdemona and Cassio. Othello asks Emilia to watch over Desdemona when she is with Cassio and Othello begins to be more suspicious of Desdemona and begins to question her. Cassio and Bianca meet up and plan to meet later in the night.
Act IV Iago tells Othello that Cassio said he “laid” with Desdemona, this sets off Othello and he goes into a trance. Othello hides to hear a conversation between Iago and Cassio where Cassio is telling about having sex with Bianca but Othello believes he is talking about Desdemona. After Iago tells Othello he will arrange for Cassios death. Othello also decides to kill Desdemona. Othello begins to treat Desdemona like a “*****” and she states she has not been disloyal to her husband even though he won’t believe her.
Act V Iago gets Roderigo to kill Cassio as he is coming out of the brothel. Cassio stabs Roderigo back and then Iago stabs Cassio in the leg. Othello goes home to kill Desdemona, he kisses her and she wakes up and again persists she didn’t cheat on him. Othello still doesn’t believe her and smothers her. When everyone finds out what Othello has done they take him to be stripped of his title. Othello then stabs himself and kills himself.