Reversed Roles

By the end of William Shakespeare's Othello, the three main men (Othello, Iago, Cassio) find themselves in circumstances they never could have predicted.  Othello started out in full power and grace, with a beautiful new wife whom he adored.  He expected to live happily with Desdemona while faithfully serving the Venetian army.  He never would have thought that, in the near future, he would have murdered his wife, been stripped of his "power and [his] command" (V. ii. 330), and end up committing suicide.  Meanwhile, Iago, the mastermind of the plot, fully expected all the pieces of his twisted puzzle to fall into place.  Never would he have foreseen that his obedient wife would betray him.  He was expecting to rise in ranks of the army through his lies and deception, not end up a slave that would soon be tortured to death.  He always treated Roderigo like a moron, and never would have thought he'd be smart enough to write a letter accusing Iago of his lies.  Cassio was perfectly content with his position in the army, and was blissfully ignorant throughout most of the play of the plots being set against him.  He ended up with the job of his superior, and in charge of the torture and death of his right-hand man, Iago.