In this Shakespeare presented Cassio as beingburdened by many questions that he could not answer allat once, but if he had as many mouths as Hydra it wouldbe more accessible for him to do so. Cassio said, “Iwill ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I ama drunkard! Has I as many mouths as Hydra, such ananswer would stop them all” (p.101). Cassio wasexplaining to Iago that if he went to Othello now tospeak with him, Othello would call him a drunk becausehe had been drinking all night. This is exactly whatIago wanted. His plan was to get Cassio drunk and havehim mutter words of hate and disgust to Othello, aperson who Cassio had great respect for, until he wasdrunk and then fed him lies told to him by Iago. Shakespeare’s animal imagery in this paragraph helpsone to understand Cassio’s burden of having too manyquestions and not enough answers. In using thecomparison of Hydra, the many headed monster, to Cassioexplained how Cassio’s burden would be lifted if heonly had more mouths to explain everything he had tosay at one time.In Act Three Iago once again tries to manipulateanother character in the play. This time he toldOthello of an alleged affair that Cassio and Desdemonawere having. The affair that Iago spoke of was acomplete lie, for the two were nothing more thanfriends. Upon hearing of this alleged affair though,Othello went into a fit of rage yelling, “Arise, black vengeance, from hollow hell! Yieldup, O love, thy crown and hearted throne Totyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thyfraught, for ‘tis of aspics’ tongues” (p. 149). Shakespeare was attempting to illustrate a man, who wastorn between his good friend, someone who he respected,and his lover. Shakespeare portrayed a man goingthrough an almost metamorphosis of emotions into thisanimal that he could not control. Othello yelled forthis side of him to rise from hell, which had aspics’tongues, a tongue f...
