affecting.

The picturesque contrasts of character in this play are almost as
remarkable as the depth of the passion. The Moor Othello, the gentle
Desdemona, the villain Iago, the good-natured Cassio, the fool
Roderigo, present a range and variety of character as striking and
palpable as that produced by the opposition of costume in a picture.
Their distinguishing qualities stand out to the mind's eye, so that
even when we are not thinking of their actions or sentiments, the
idea of their persons is still as present to us as ever. These
characters and the images they stamp upon the mind are the farthest
asunder possible, the distance between them is immense: yet the
compass of knowledge and invention which the poet has shown in
embodying these extreme creations of his genius is only greater than
the truth and felicity with which he has identified each character
with itself, or blended their different qualities together in the
same story. What a contrast the character of Othello forms to that
of Iago: at the same time, the force of conception with which these
two figures are opposed to each other is rendered still more intense
by the complete consistency with which the traits of each character
are brought out in a state of the highest finishing. The making one
black and the other white, the one unprincipled, the other
unfortunate in the extreme, would have answered the common purposes
of effect, and satisfied the ambition of an ordinary painter of
character. Shakespeare has laboured the finer shades of difference
in both with as much care and skill as if he had had to depend on
the execution alone for the success of his design. On the other
hand, Desdemona and Aemilia are not meant to be opposed with
anything like strong contrast to each other. Both are, to outward
appearance, characters of common life, not more distinguished than