Othello: Roderigo In-Depth Character Analysis
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Roderigo is a Venetian is a rejected suitor of Desdemona. His desire for Desdemona’s love is very strong in which it leads him to turn evil. He becomes Iagos follower, he wounds and becomes wounded by Cassio in an unsuccessful attempt to murder the lieutenant, and later he is killed by Iago.
Roderigo is identified as easy to be manipulated. Roderigo is gullible; he believes everything Iago tells him and does everything Iago tells him to do. At the beginning of the play, Roderigo alerts Brabantio, under Iago’s command, about Desdemona eloping with the Moor. He sails with Iago to Cyprus and later serves as a pawn in Iagos plan to ruin Othello and Cassios’ lives. At the instruction of Iago, Roderigo starts a fight with Cassio while Iago sits back and watches during the general celebration. Later, he attacks Cassio in the dark and wounds him, while Cassio manages to wound Roderigo back. Iago has tricked Roderigo into giving him all his money in an attempt to negotiate with Desdemona and thinks the tasks Iago assigns to Roderigo are intended only to remove Cassio as a possible rival toward Desdemona. Although his actions are cruel and evil, he does display a measure of sympathy in the way that he is so easily manipulated and ultimately betrayed by Iago, who later stabs the wounded Roderigo in the dark in order to hide his involvement in Cassio’s assault.
Roderigo is continually threatening to quit his pursuit of Desdemona and stop giving Iago money for his intervention in that matter. Each time he does so, Iago assures him that Desdemonas attraction to Othello is only physical and that she will tire of the Moor fairly quickly. Iago suggests that Roderigos best course of action is to accumulate a solid financial foundation. Iago tells Roderigo over and over to “Put money in thy purse” (341-360), implying that, when Desdemona has satisfied her sexual lust, she will be attracted