In the play Othello, Iago derides Cassio and says that he is “damned in a fair wife.” What does he mean?
This line has been the subject of much debate. It could be that Cassio was going to be married (this is the case in Shakespeare’s source by Cinthio). Another hypothesis comes from Tucker Brooke. In his edition of the play he gives the following explanation of the line: “Cassio, says Iago, is a fellow of such effeminate quality that the like could hardly be endured in a fine lady. Here ‘in’ means ‘in the person of’ and ‘wife’ means women in general. In this description of Cassio, Iago is again lying in order to build up Roderigo’s belief that Othello has misused him. The obscure feeling called inferiority complex drives him in the same direction” (Yale Shakespeare, 1947 [155]).
