Significance of Reputation in 'Othello'

In the play 'Othello' by William Shakespeare, reputation plays a big role. Reputation contains the power of hierarchy and the reputation of the characters led them to such a disaster. Iago uses his reputation as an honest man to deceive Othello and everyone else. Cassio's changing reputation has a big part in the outcome of the play as well. Desdemona's innocent reputation supports Iago to easily deceive Othello.

Iago's reputation played a key role in the play. Everyone thought that Iago was an honest man. "O, that's an honest fellow", "You advise me well... goodnight honest Iago." Iago convinced everyone that he is noble and honest, which then he used to his advantage. No one suspected that Iago was a deceitful man and would plot to destroy Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio in such a cunning way. Iago usedhis reputation to manipulate Othello and set his plan in motion and complete it. Without Iago's honest reputation would never had allowed him smear Cassio and cause the death of Desdemona and ultimately Othello as well.

Cassio's changing reputation played a big role in the play as well. Reputation was everything to Cassio. He was too loyal of a friend and had always followed orders. Othello sayed to Cassio, "I'll make thee an example." He clearly showed his loss of trust in Cassio and Cassio knew this. He tried to correct the situation with Othello through Desdemona, but it only made things worse once Iago stepped in. Cassio's tarnished reputation only helped Iago to succeed in his plan. Cassio reputation as a loyal, just and honest soldier was trashed when he got drunk.

Desdemona, as Othello's wife had a high reputation in the play, 'Othello'. But in the start of the play, her father's trust against Desdemona had broken down as she had deceived her father and married Othello. Although she is the symbol of innocence in the play, Iago had used this to deceive Othello by convincing him that Desdemona had been cheating.
The reputations of the three characters played a big role in the outcome of the play, 'Othello. Reputation is a way which helps to make judgements about others and is very important in our society today.