Iago's Use Of Pathos In Othello

Humans are naturally emotional and easily-manipulated beings. They are controlled by their emotions, the good and the bad. Pathos is evoking a feeling of pity or sympathy towards another and in novel writing it is the act of evoking feelings for someone who doesn’t even exist. Writers use pathos to engage readers, helping them feel connected with the characters and keep them interested. Successful authors are often master manipulators. Shakespeare can be seen as one of these master manipulators and is one of the most successful writers of all time; modern writers recycle/reuse his ideas and themes because they are universal and timeless.
In Othello Shakespeare uses pathos for all of his characters, including Desdemona. He depicts Desdemona

Without him the story wouldn’t have had such a tragic ending. Iago at first comes off as an honest man, after all everyone calls him “Honest Iago”, but the audience gets a full 360 on his character. The audience sees his good, his bad and his reasoning behind everything. Shakespeare makes a point to show that Iago knows what he is doing is wrong. He had a soliloquy where he spoke to the audience in hopes of convincing them that what he is doing is not entirely wrong but innocent. He reasons with the audience, because what he is doing, at least until he completely lies, is harmless if the chess pieces in his game weren’t so foolish. “And what’s he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free I give and honest, Probal to thinking… How am I then a villain, to counsel Cassio to this parallel course, directly to his good?” (Act 2, scene 3). His soliloquy rings true; what he is saying is a perfectly good suggestion to make. Iago’s intentions are not pure and knows that suggestion, if manipulated correctly, can do lead to the desired outcome for his master plan. The audience knows he is the villain of the story, but they cannot help but feel for his character and even cheer him on at