Veronika Walker
ENG215, Dr. Smith
December 8, 2009
Michael Cassio as a Foil to Shakespeare’s Othello
Theodore Spencer wrote of Shakespeare's Othello, “In presenting the character of
Othello to his audience, Shakespeare emphasizes very strongly his grandeur, self-control,
and nobility” (Spencer 127-28). This observation demonstrates that these three main
traits—grandeur, self-control, and nobility—are key to understanding Othello's complex
character, and even more helpful in understanding the contrasts between him and his
subordinates. Most notably in this comparison is young Michael Cassio, a beautifully
written foil character to the general in the fact that where Othello possesses these three
qualities (and others), Cassio either lacks them entirely or enhances them to the
betterment of those around him.
Othello is one of the most dignified and sumptuous characters in Shakespeare’s
writings, rivaling such men as Henry V or King Lear in his superiority and aloof grandeur
in both mind and body. Harold Bloom goes so far as to say that “Othello has a touch of
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in him…there is an authentic nobility in the language of his
soul” (Bloom 445). His first entrance on the stage presents him as a wise man, a leader
whose experiences have made him all the more observant and patient with the world
around him. The hardships of his enslavement and the experiences of war have made him
a calculating, reserved leader who looks at a situation from every angle, who never acts
rashly or without understanding all sides. Indeed, the Venetian council acknowledges his
masterful approach to the battlefield as they call him to take command of their fleets
against the Turks: “…though we have a substitute of most allowed sufficiency, yet
opinion, a more sovereign mistress of effect, throws a more safer voice on you” (I, iii,
222-224).
Cassio, on the other hand, is a young pup by comparison. Iago acknowledges to
Roderigo that Cassio knows not “the division of a battle” (I, i, 23), is “without practice
[in] all his soldiership” (27), and is in, the opposite vein, a philosophizer, “a great
arithmetician” (19). Both men serve as loyal soldiers of the Venetian crown, but Cassio
seems to represent the impishness of youth, the suave, debonair, and eye-catching
gallantry that attracts lady folk to military men, whilst Othello represents the wisdom,
experience, and backbone - both the brains and brawn - of any army’s foundation. Cassio
has physical beauty and grace; Othello has calculating finesse and wisdom. Both men
deserve and attain recognition for their individual strengths…as they also lose it at
various times and in different ways throughout the play.
Othello’s is also a very self-controlled character. While some would argue that his
murder of Desdemona is anything but self-controlled, the attack on his wife is an
extremely calculated and planned one, as Othello seeks to rationalize his decision,
slanting the proposition in the form of an execution of a strumpet, instead of the murder
of an innocent. As Spencer says, “Othello appears to all the world as a man who is not
passion’s slave (128). Even when his reputation is at stake, Othello remains calm and
calculating, even to the detriment of his wife; when accused of betraying Branbantio’s
trust and stealing away Desdemona, Othello reacts calmly and without question to the
interrogation of the Venetian council: “Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it /
Without a prompter. Where will you that I go / To answer this charge?” (I, i, 83-85).
When Iago first hints at Desdemona’s unfaithfulness, Othello first seeks out “ocular
proof” before making any judgments or broaching the subject with his wife.
Cassio on the flip side is a slave of passion. Not always a negative trait to possess,
the passion he exhibits is a passion for life, of enjoying every moment and living in the
present, as evinced by his rollicking romance with Bianca, his cajoling with Iago,
Montano, and the men of the watch, and his overall pleasantry with his superiors and the
ladies around him. Othello, seemingly, must admire him for this appreciation for life that
Cassio possesses, perhaps one of the reasons he promotes Cassio over his long-faithful
right hand, Iago. His character also balances the morality and tone of the play in a
negative aspect: while Othello shows a genuine respect for his wife, Desdemona, Cassio though for the most part, a gentleman - displays a lack of true respect and commitment to
women as a whole, especially his mistress Bianca, revealing the one major flaw in his
character. His treatment of women depicts a slovenly attitude with romance, one that
thinks of women as more of a plaything or passing fancy; this is highly contrasted with
Othello’s legitimate love and appreciation for women on the whole.
One final trait, though hardly the last legitimate, comparable characteristic, is the
background and heritage of each of these men. Othello is a king, no argument. In his
opening speech to the Venetian court, he reveals his ancestry and his original state as the
king of the Moors. His presence and bearing, as previously noted, denote a majesty and
nobility that is unfound in the common man, as noted by his subjects and subordinates.
Cassio’s heritage and background, by contrast, remain a mystery; all one knows of him is
gained from Iago’s description of him as a Florentine who knows little of his trade and
who holds a mistress (I, 1, 20). Cassio is as mysterious as Othello is reserved. The fact
that he is a soldier in a high court suggests that he is not of a royal or noble bloodline but
a man who had to earn his reputation and favor in the eyes of those he served.
Both men, too, have wounded reputations, but the different ways they choose to
handle their situation shows the foil technique playing beautifully. Like Othello, Cassio
finds himself pitted against a slight on his reputation, but unlike Othello, Cassio pleads
only the truth: that he never intentionally injured his beloved captain. Cassio serves as a
foil to Othello in this manner because though each man has an injured ego and position
in the Venetian world, Othello remains focused on the injury itself, no matter how valid it
is, dwelling only on the hurt that Desdemona’s faithlessness caused him; Cassio,
comparatively, is quick to forgive the injury of Othell’s dismissal and instead pleads his
case only as a loyal servant of his general. His emotional “Dear general, I never gave you
cause,” (V, iii, 209) reveals his true heart despite the boyish immaturity that marks his
character.
With these opposite characteristics presented, Cassio might, at this point, seem
more of a second antagonist to the hero. But he slips into the role of a foil character
through his similarities as well as his differences. Cassio’s moral line serves as an
expansion, a continuation of Othello’s when the general has been confronted with a
breakdown in his own understanding of justice. Othello questions what evil his sense of
duty and justice will lead him to, whereas Cassio remains determined to keep a good and
wholesome reputation amongst the Venetian court, and especially in the eyes of his “dear
general” (V, ii. 209). Like Othello, Cassio offers himself as a loyal countryman, “never
anything but your servant” (III, iii, 9). Cassio’s main motivation is for the honest truth of
his loyalty to be known and the general’s love for him won back.
Cassio then acts as an expansion of this similarity to Othello in the final scene;
Othello’s sense of justice has been manipulated and disintegrates into a desperate
sacrifice of the one he loves to a perverted justice that has been twisted by the evil Iago.
Cassio, another nonce t victim in this strange perversion of Iago’s hatred, has a chance unlike the poor Desdemona - to redeem himself in Othello’s eyes. As Cassio is allowed to
reveal the truth, one sees Othello’s admirable traits being transferred to the young
lieutenant who is now granted full supremacy over the region in Othello’s place. Cassio,
ever the complement to Othello’s characteristics and personality, has the final victory in
the twisted lie of Iago’s making, resulting in a victory of good over evil.
Cassio, in the end, seems to represent the better man, the higher sophisticate in
Othello’s mind than his own self. He presents a moral balance, both positively and
negatively, to the Moor’s own morality and sense of duty and justice, ultimately
providing the audience with an exceptional character whom they can identify with and
admire for his loyalty and steadfastness to his beloved leader and friend.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead
Books, 1998.
Spencer, Theodore. Shakespeare and the Nature of Man. 2nd ed. New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1949.