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The article's claim that Cassio is a "Florentine arithmetician" is highly dubious, though it is a direct quote from the play; it is an insult brought against him by Iago, who further asserts of Cassio "that [he] never set a squadron in the field". In other words, Iago is accusing Cassio of being nothing but a theorist in matters of warfare, in contrast to Iago himself, whose "eyes had seen the proof
at Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds, Christian and heathen". I hope that's sufficient justification to removing the article's arithmetician claim; I'll have it instead say that he is a gentleman soldier. PerVognsen16:20, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds good. Perhaps you could add the above as part of an analysis of the Iago/Cassio relationship. Add the citation too, if you have it. Wrad16:29, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Do you mean a citation for my analysis (which seems obvious) or the parts of the play I cited? Also, as I read the rest of the page, I noticed some other overt mistakes/misunderstandings. For example, it says that Roderigo is the comrade-at-arms of Cassio, which is certainly not true. He's an acquaintance of Iago's, Cassio knows him not at all; for Cassio does not recognize him during their initial drunken brawl, nor during the final sword fight. And to say it's Cassio's thick coat that prevents his injury is a bit misleading; Shakespeare does indeed use the word "coat" but in the sense of a coat or armor, not a civilian overcoat. These all seem to be straightforward readings of the text, but I'm not sure if I need to find some kind of third party analysis to cite, as corroboration? PerVognsen16:45, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, I made some changes. Not sure if they're improvements or not; let me know what you think. I also think the article's characterization section should be expanded, and perhaps the narrative summary cut down. Maybe something about the contrast between Iago and Cassio, and certainly something about the relationship between Cassio and Desdemona and between Cassio and Blanca. Anyway, I'll brood on this some more and hopefully make the changes soon. Thanks! PerVognsen17:06, 29 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
