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Plays › The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice › Cassio

Cassio

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice · 111 speeches across 9 scenes

Othello's polished, well-meaning lieutenant whose single drunken lapse sets a tragedy in motion.

Who they are

Cassio is Othello's honorable but flawed lieutenant, promoted over Iago — a slight that fuels the entire plot. A Florentine gentleman-soldier, he is courtly, literate, and genuinely loyal to Othello and Desdemona. His one error — drinking on watch — costs him his rank and gives Iago the wedge to destroy everyone around him. He survives the play's end to witness the wreckage of his own innocence.

Playing them

Play Cassio with an open, earnest energy that makes his vulnerability clear from the start — he is not weak, but he trusts too easily. His speech should be polished and rhythmic, reflecting his Florentine education, but crack under Iago's manipulation. The drunken scene requires a precise shift from controlled charm to pathetic loss of control. His final scenes carry a quiet devastation — he has lost his commander, his reputation, and the woman who loved him.

Where they appear

Play Cassio

Take the part and Yorick reads every other role aloud, following you line by line as you speak.

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Shakespeare the way it was meant to be had — out loud

These plays were written to be performed, not silently read. Yorick is a rehearsal app that lets you perform them: you take a part in any of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, and Yorick reads every other role aloud, listens while you speak your lines, keeps your place, and prompts you the moment you dry.

It is built for the person who has to be off book by tech week — school and college productions, community theatre, festivals, drama students and classical auditions — and for anyone who wants to hear a scene rather than skim it. Alongside the performance you get a plain-English translation of every speech, scene context, performance notes, and the ability to ask about any line and get an answer that already knows the play, the scene and who is speaking.

The text is the public-domain Cambridge/Globe edition. Translations and notes are AI-generated rehearsal aids for actors and students, not a scholarly apparatus. Yorick runs in a browser with nothing to install, and on iPhone and Android.