Othello Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Othello

A Moorish general in the Venetian army — respected, an outsider, a man whose stories won Desdemona's love. Manipulated into suspecting his wife of infidelity, he smothers her, learns the truth, and kills himself beside her body.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino; Part 3: The Handkerchief and the Green-Eyed Monster; Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering
Themes:: Jealousy as a self-feeding fire; Race and the outsider; Women as property; The unknowable villain; Honesty as a weapon

Iago

Othello's ensign, passed over for promotion in favor of an aristocrat he deems a worse soldier. He engineers the ruin of everyone around him through lies, staged scenes, and a planted handkerchief — then refuses, forever, to say why.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino; Part 3: The Handkerchief and the Green-Eyed Monster; Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering
Themes:: Jealousy as a self-feeding fire; Race and the outsider; Women as property; The unknowable villain; Honesty as a weapon

Desdemona

Brabantio's daughter, who defies her father to marry Othello and stays loyal to the end. Innocent of everything she is accused of, she defends her husband with her dying breath.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino; Part 3: The Handkerchief and the Green-Eyed Monster; Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering
Themes:: Race and the outsider; Women as property; The unknowable villain; Honesty as a weapon

Iago's wife Emilia

Desdemona's attendant, who unknowingly hands her mistress's handkerchief to her husband. When she grasps what he has done, she exposes him — and he stabs her for it.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino; Part 3: The Handkerchief and the Green-Eyed Monster; Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering
Themes:: Jealousy as a self-feeding fire; Women as property; The unknowable villain; Honesty as a weapon

Cassio

Othello's loyal, naive lieutenant, stripped of rank after a drunken brawl Iago engineered. Framed as Desdemona's lover through his affair with Bianca, he survives to be named Othello's successor.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino; Part 3: The Handkerchief and the Green-Eyed Monster; Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering
Themes:: The unknowable villain; Honesty as a weapon

Roderigo

A wealthy, dissolute gentleman in love with Desdemona, funding Iago's schemes in exchange for nothing. Iago kills him the moment he becomes a liability.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino; Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering
Themes:: Race and the outsider; Women as property; The unknowable villain

Brabantio

Desdemona's father, a Venetian senator who accuses Othello of witchcraft and loses. His parting warning — she deceived her father, she may deceive you — is the doubt Iago later harvests.

Appears in:: Part 1: A Marriage Made in Secret, a Grudge Made in Public; Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino
Themes:: Race and the outsider; Women as property

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Bianca

A local courtesan in love with Cassio. Her jealous return of the handkerchief seals Desdemona's fate, and Iago accuses her of the conspiracy against Cassio.

Appears in:: Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering

Lodovico

Brabantio's kinsman, sent from Venice to recall Othello and appoint Cassio governor. He ends the play in charge: apprehending Iago, ordering just punishment, and reporting the wreckage.

Appears in:: Part 4: Staged Scenes, a Willow Song, and the Smothering

Montano

The former governor of Cyprus, wounded by the drunk Cassio in the brawl Iago stages. Later he arrives at the scene of Desdemona's murder.

Appears in:: Part 2: A Storm, a Drunken Brawl, and the First Domino

How they are connected

Key relationships

Othello Desdemona
A Moorish general in the Venetian army — respected, an outsider, a man whose stories won Desdemona's love.
Othello Iago's wife Emilia
Manipulated into suspecting his wife of infidelity, he smothers her, learns the truth, and kills himself beside her body.
Iago Othello
Othello's ensign, passed over for promotion in favor of an aristocrat he deems a worse soldier.
Desdemona Brabantio
Brabantio's daughter, who defies her father to marry Othello and stays loyal to the end.
Iago's wife Emilia Desdemona
Desdemona's attendant, who unknowingly hands her mistress's handkerchief to her husband.
Cassio Othello
Othello's loyal, naive lieutenant, stripped of rank after a drunken brawl Iago engineered.
Cassio Iago
Othello's loyal, naive lieutenant, stripped of rank after a drunken brawl Iago engineered.
Cassio Desdemona
Framed as Desdemona's lover through his affair with Bianca, he survives to be named Othello's successor.
Cassio Bianca
Framed as Desdemona's lover through his affair with Bianca, he survives to be named Othello's successor.
Roderigo Iago
A wealthy, dissolute gentleman in love with Desdemona, funding Iago's schemes in exchange for nothing.
Roderigo Desdemona
A wealthy, dissolute gentleman in love with Desdemona, funding Iago's schemes in exchange for nothing.
Roderigo Iago's wife Emilia
A wealthy, dissolute gentleman in love with Desdemona, funding Iago's schemes in exchange for nothing.

Go deeper

Othello themes & symbols

Jealousy as a self-feeding fire · Race and the outsider · Women as property · The unknowable villain

Themes explained

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The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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