Š Reduced to self-pity about his loss of military honour, Cassio also resorts to relying on Desdemona to take up his cause of reinstatement. His characteristic pride – a trait that he shares with most of the other men in the play – exposes additional personality flaws. Anxious to regain Othello’s confidence, he admits that he is too self-conscious to confront the general again, directly: ‘I am very ill at ease,/ Unfit for mine own purposes’.
Š Some critics have argued that Casio’s use of women is cowardly, revealing a petulant self- interest that is far from admirable. Rather than face the truth about his obvious indiscipline, he feels increasingly sorry for himself, maintaining that he is ‘past all surgery’. He constantly exaggerates his feelings over his demotion: ‘I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial’.
