Roderigo: The Fool Who Funds His Own Destruction
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
Roderigo is Iago's primary source of income. He loves Desdemona, or thinks he does, and has been paying Iago to advance his suit. By Act 1, Scene 1 she has already married Othello. Iago delivers this information with theatrical outrage, as if it is news to him too, not something he arranged. Roderigo is furious and keeps paying anyway.
He is not stupid in every respect. He notices at several points that Iago's promises have produced nothing and that he has run out of money and jewels. Each time, Iago talks him back into compliance with a new plan. The pattern reveals Iago's method: he gives people just enough hope to keep them useful.
Iago eventually uses Roderigo as a weapon, ordering him to kill Cassio in Act 5, Scene 1. The plan fails. Roderigo wounds Cassio, Iago wounds Roderigo in the dark to silence him, and Roderigo dies cursing 'that same handkerchief.' He is the play's purest portrait of what it looks like to be completely played.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry.”
Roderigo — Act 2, Scene 3
“Every day thou daffest me with some device, Iago; and rather, as it seems to me now, keepest from me all conveniency than suppliest me with the least advantage of hope.”
Roderigo — Act 4, Scene 2
Themes
Other Characters in Othello
Test Your Knowledge
Think you know your Shakespeare? Put it to the test with one of our free quizzes.
See all quizzes →