In the following passage, Iago tells Cassio that he “have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser” (Othello 2.3.260-261). This line can be addressed to Cassio, as a person who actually just lost his current position and is ready to beg for forgiveness. However, at the same time, Iago can address these words to his own situation, because he didn’t get a promotion at the first place.
Cassio lost his position, because of the Iago’s provocation. Before he started drinking with Iago, he tells him that he has “very poor and unhappy brains for drinking” (2.3.28-29). He reveals his problem to Iago and complaints how “unfortunate in the infinity” he is (2.3.35). Iago really wanted him to lose the position; he basically tells it to his face that he didn’t deserve it. He makes sure that Cassio gets another drink, which is obviously beyond his limit. By the time Montano and Gentlemen enter, Cassio is already pretty drunk but he doesn’t except
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As we discussed within the group and during our class symposium, Iago is a really complicated antagonist. Only Iago in this play can talk to a person and refer that conversation to himself. He can tell offensive things to people’s face, but they would not realize it. Like it happened in case with Cassio, whom he told that he never even deserved the promotion. Also, it is important to say that reputation is the way how society views you. But, as we mentioned after analyzing the text, Cassio doesn’t care about society’s opinion, the only person, who is important for him is Othello. This means that he doesn’t really care about reputation related to his soul, he only cares about his material position in the society. He is afraid that he lost his reputation in Othello’s eyes and his social position is taken away from him. He is hoping to recover in his eyes in order to receive his material and social privileges