“Why, he drinks you with facility your Dane dead drunk..”
Cassio finally gives in and states “To the health of our General!” The fact that he gives in shows a weak state of mind when put under pressure which in turn suggests stupidity as he knows what will happen if he gets drunk but is willing to risk it for a drink with his ‘friends’.
When Cassio is drunk, he begins to offend the people around him. “The Lieutenant is to be saved before the Ancient” states Cassio. This is not only offending Iago as Cassio effectively thinks of him as someone who is past a promotion and who will not be anything more than he is now, but it is also an offence to Othello as he wishes to leave his good hospitality. This is again showing stupidity as he is supplying the cunning and manipulative Iago with things to say to Othello. He is also making a fool out of himself in front of the nobles as he states:
“Do not think, gentlemen, I am drunk: this is my Ancient, this is my right hand, and this is my left. I am not drunk now: I can stand well enough and speak well enough.”
The speech itself is detached and Cassio uses language that he would not use were he sober. This emphasises his stupidity as he does not seem to know what he is saying and how much of an idiot he is. It could be argued that Cassio is seen as the fool here as he is being wise by acting stupidly and cunningly simultaneously. This puts him in a bad light from the noble’s point of view as they now not only see him as a drunkard and a stupid fool, who would have been of lower class, but also as a bad figurehead; a bad Lieutenant. This is shown by Montano’s statement:
“It were well/The General were put in mind of it:/Perhaps he sees it not, or his good nature/Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio/And looks not on his evils. Is not this true?”
Iago sends Roderigo after Cassio knowing full well that neither of them get on well together and in Cassio’s drunken state this is bound to cause trouble, which it does as Cassio hits Roderigo. This is exactly what Iago had hoped for in order to achieve his goal of obtaining Cassio’s position. Iago then states:
“I do love Cassio well and would do much/To cure him of this evil.”
Iago is in fact the evil one as he has manipulated Cassio so much so as to persuade him to drink too much so that the nobles and Othello would view him badly and cause further trouble for him in the future. Cassio does not have evil, just stupidity. If Cassio had not been so stupid in his drunken state, Iago could not have used him in his plot against Othello.
This leads on to Othello’s stupidity. From 3:3 onwards, the audience see Othello’s stupidity unfold; the stupidity of listening to Iago’s lies and deceitfulness. However, we also see the ever darkening, evil thoughts of Iago. Iago uses Cassio to make Othello jealous and revengeful towards both Cassio and his wife. If Cassio had not got drunk then this event may not have occurred as Othello would not have been suspicious of Cassio but rather would have been suspicious of Iago. Othello seems to be insecure in his marriage, so much so that he believes that Desdemona would do such a thing to him. This is stupidity as most people would tend not to marry someone if they felt insecure. Othello seems to be more concerned with his pride rather than the love of his life and it is this self pride that becomes his dangerous stupidity, an insane self consuming passion. It seems to be this that leads him to employ the events in 5:2.
In 5:2, it could be argued that the events that occur are a display of downright evil from Othello and Iago. Othello kills his loving Desdemona and seems to show his confused state of mind. He states:
“Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.”
This shows that he believes he is killing her for the sake of other people rather than his own personal revenge which in itself suggests stupidity as he seems to be trying to convince himself that it’s the right thing to do and something that must be done, which obviously it is not as killing someone never is, especially not someone who is innocent. His stupidity is further emphasised by the fact that he says he is going to kill her but then talks about it for a long time rather than actually committing the deed. “One more, one more./Be thus when thou art dead and I will kill thee,/and love thee after. One more, and this the last./ So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep.”
Othello’s evil and stupidity is emphasised from here on. Desdemona states that “they are loves I bear to you” to which Othello replies: “Ay, and for that thou diest.” It seems as though Othello has not really thought his problems through and it seems as though he does not know why he wants to kill Desdemona. This is where is stupidity is emphasised as it shows that he has not confronted Desdemona about the rumours and has just come up with the conclusion that Desdemona is incestuous by himself, with Iago’s help. He is stupid as he has allowed himself to be in this situation. Othello then smothers Desdemona which is not only evil as he has killed an innocent woman, but it is also a stupid and a coward’s way out of a situation, he should have talked to Desdemona as that is what people who love each other are supposed to do. Othello realises his stupidity when Emilia tells him that he’s been taken for a fool by Iago and that he’s been manipulated by him. It is after this that he kills himself, to rid himself of his stupidity and sins. He realises that he has lost his own self pride because of Iago.
In Elizabethan times, the ‘fool’ commonly conducts an interaction between himself and a person who society defines as wise by acting stupid and cunning at the same time, an interaction which would always end in the fool winning in this uneven matching of wits. The fool constantly questions our perceptions of wisdom and truth and their relationship to everyday experience. In Othello, Iago could be seen as the ‘fool’ character as he has a subtextual connotation of evil and pretends stupidity. He also opposes Othello, the seemingly wise and holy man. Othello could be seen as the other character that the fool interacts with, the man that seems wise but that uses stupidity and cunningness at the same time. Othello’s stupidity let Iago win his battle of wits and manipulation. Therefore the statement is very acceptable. The resulting acts of evil could not have occurred without the stupidity of the characters.
