He hath achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
And in the essential vesture of creation
Does tire the ingener.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 2, Scene 1. Cassio shows himself to be quite the romantic as he describes Othello’s wife to Montano and waxes lyrical about her. He says that Desdemona has been perfectly made by God, suggesting that the words of poets are not adequate to describe her level of perfection. The way Othello is said to have "achieved" such a maid objectifies Desdemona as a kind of trophy wife, which speaks to the theme of gender and male attitudes towards women. Cassio obviously likes and admires Desdemona very much, something Iago will use against him. Foreshadowed here is Cassio being falsely put in the frame for having an affair with Desdemona.