‘Her father loved me, oft invited me, / Still questioned me the story of my life / From year to year: the battles, the sieges, fortunes / That I have passed’ (Othello, 1:3)

Othello was an experienced soldier and warrior and was respected by Brabantio before he discovered the marriage.

‘By the world, / I think my wife be honest, and think she is not; / I think that thou art just, and think thou art not: I’ll have some proof’ (Othello, 3:3)

Othello likes to have proof before he will believe something.

‘The Moor is of a free and open nature / That thinks men honest that but seem to be so’ (Iago, 1:3)

Iago thinks Othello is too trusting and will believe the best of people, even when they are lying.

‘I would rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander’ (Cassio, 2:3)

Othello seems to have the respect of most of his men, including Cassio who feels he has let Othello down when he is caught fighting.

‘Is this the noble Moor whom our full Senate / Call all in all sufficient? This is the nature / Whom passion could not shake?’ (Lodovico, 4:1)

Lodovico can’t believe how much Othello has changed when he sees him in Act 4. He no longer seems like the ‘noble’ and calm General the Senate respected and has changed.

‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’ (Iago, 1:1)

Iago plans to keep his feelings hidden so that he can get his revenge.

‘So will I turn her virtue into pitch / And out of her own goodness make the net / That shall enmesh them all’ (Iago, 2:3)

Iago is happy to destroy Desdemona’s reputation in order to get revenge on Othello and Cassio.

‘A man he is of honesty and trust’ (Othello, 1:3)

Everyone believes Iago to be honest and loyal, including Othello.

‘I warrant it grieves my husband as if the cause were his’ (Emilia, 3:3)

Other characters are convinced Iago is doing his best to help Cassio to get his job back, including Emilia.

‘Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil / Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?’ (Othello, 5:2)

Iago is called a dog and a devil because his behaviour is seen to be ‘inhuman’, when his actions are revealed.

'I saw Othello’s visage in his mind, / And to his honours and his valiant parts / Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate’ (Desdemona, 1:3)

Desdemona sees herself as fully committed and devoted to life with Othello.

‘Beshrew me if I would do such a thing / For the whole world!’ (Desdemona, 4:3)

Desdemona cannot imagine ever wanting to be unfaithful to her husband.

‘She has deceived her father and may thee’ (Brabantio, 1:3)

Desdemona lied to her father and married Othello without telling him.

‘My life upon her faith’ (Othello, 1:2)

Othello is completely convinced that Desdemona loves him before they leave for Cyprus.

‘She’s a most exquisite lady’ (Cassio, 2:3)

Desdemona is admired by others, including Cassio.

‘If she be not honest, chaste and true, there’s no man happy’ (Emilia, 4:2)

Desdemona is seen as being completely faithful to Othello by Emilia, who serves her in Cyprus.

‘But I do think it is their husbands’ faults / If wives do fall’ (Emilia, 4:3)

Emilia is more cynical than Desdemona and sees that men can be wrong in how they behave towards women.

‘Tis proper I obey him, but not now’ (Emilia, 5:2)

Emilia is a respectable woman who normally obeys her husband.

‘I care not for thy sword, I’ll make thee known / Though I lost twenty lives’ (Emilia, 5:2)

Emilia is very brave. When she feels physically threatened by Othello, she chooses to tell the truth even though it may endanger her life.

‘Why, what’s that to you?’ (Iago, 3:3)

Emilia is dismissed by her husband, Iago.

‘She’s a simple bawd’ (Othello, 4:2)

Emilia defends Desdemona, even when insulted by Othello.

‘It was his bidding; therefore, good Emilia / Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu. / We must not now displease him’ (Desdemona, 4:3)

Emilia is trusted by Desdemona, but Desdemona does not want her to interfere in her relationship with Othello.

'I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking’ (Cassio, 2:3)

Cassio is aware of his own weakness when it comes to drinking alcohol.

'Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation!’ (Cassio, 2:3)

A sense of honour and reputation is very important to Cassio. He wants others to think well of him.

‘That never set a squadron in the field / Nor the division of a battle knows / More than a spinster’ (Iago, 1:1)

Cassio is an inexperienced soldier, according to Iago.

‘The knave is handsome, young, and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after’ (Iago, 2:1)

Cassio is handsome and charming.

‘This same Cassio, though he speak of comfort / Touching the Turkish loss, yet he looks sadly / And pray the Moor be safe’ (Gentleman, 2:1)

Cassio worries about Othello and has a lot of respect for him.

‘Mine’s not an idle cause, the duke himself, / Or any of my brothers of the state / Cannot but feel this wrong as ‘twere their own’ (Brabantio, 1:2)

Brabantio believes that his fellow Senators will take his side against Othello.

‘For your sake, jewel / I am glad at soul I have no other child / For thy escape would teach me tyranny / To hang clogs on them’ (Brabantio, 1:3)

Brabantio is so distressed by his daughter’s behaviour that he says if he had another child he would keep them imprisoned.

‘Good signior, you shall more command with years / Than with your weapons’ (Othello, 1:2)

Brabantio is older and Othello does not feel threatened by him.

'My noble father / I do perceive here a divided duty / To you I am bound for life and education’ (Desdemona, 1:3)

Brabantio is respected by the Senate and by his daughter, even though she chooses to stay loyal to her new husband.

‘Thy match was mortal to him and pure grief / Shore his old thread in twain’ (Gratiano, 5:2)

Brabantio was so upset that his daughter married Othello that Gratiano suggests he died of a broken heart.

‘This is some token from a newer friend / To the felt absence now I feel a cause’ (Bianca, 3:4)

Bianca is upset when she thinks Cassio might be seeing another woman.

‘I am no strumpet / But of life as honest as you that thus / Abuse me’ (Bianca, 5:1)

Bianca does not see herself as a prostitute or ‘strumpet’.

‘How is’t with you, my most fair Bianca? / I’faith, sweet love, I was coming to your house’ (Cassio, 3:4)

Bianca is in a relationship with Cassio and he speaks affectionately to her.

‘A housewife that by selling her desires / Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature / that dotes on Cassio’ (Iago, 4:1)

Other characters suggest Bianca is a prostitute who has fallen in love with her client, Cassio.

‘She was here even now, she haunts me in every place. …So hangs and lolls and weeps upon me, so shakes and pulls me! Ha, ha , ha’ (Cassio, 4:1)

Bianca likes Cassio but he does not seem to feel the same, laughing about her behaviour with Iago.

‘I have wasted myself out of my means’ (Roderigo, 4:2)

Roderigo has spent nearly all his money doing what Iago tells him.

‘I have no great devotion to the deed / And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons: Tis but a man gone.’ (Roderigo, 5:1)

Roderigo does not want to kill Cassio but is convinced that the death of Cassio is not important compared to his own desires.

‘In honest plainness thou has heard me say / My daughter is not for thee’ (Brabantio, 1:1)

Roderigo has asked to marry Desdemona but Brabantio does not think he is a good enough match.

‘Thus do I ever make my fool my purse’ (Iago, 1:3)

Roderigo is gullible and Iago is able to take money from him.

'Now my sick fool, Roderigo / Whom love hath turned almost the wrong side out’ (Iago, 2:3)

Roderigo is so obsessed by his love for Desdemona that it has taken over his life.