Manipulation is a powerful skill. It causes people to lose trust in friends, doubt themselves, and, in some cases, murder someone they love. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago, a master of manipulation, causes the protagonist, Othello, to lose trust in his faithful wife, Desdemona, even pushing him to the point of murdering her. Iago successfully convinces Othello to doubt Desdemona and later murder her through his genius use of rhetoric and manipulation.
Iago’s use of vivid imagery and story-telling gives Othello the impression that Desdemona is unfaithful. Iago begins his manipulation by getting Othello to visualize the affair. When Othello doubts Iago’s implication of Desdemona’s fickleness, Iago portrays the relationship in a bestial manner by saying,
Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,
As salt as wolves in pride…
As ignorance made drunk (Shakespeare. 3.3.404-406.)
Iago uses this vulgar comparison to make Desdemona seem like an insatiable creature. When he says this, Othello immediately thinks of animals and a lack control over physical actions. He associates this with Desdemona, thus causing him to believe Desdemona a whore. When Iago mentions “drunk,” Othello is led into the idea of debauchery. This word gives the impression that Desdemona contains little self-control and makes rash decisions. Iago also uses his rhetoric skills to create an outlandish fable about a dream Cassio had,
…Cassio.
In sleep I heard him say, “Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves!”
And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,
Cry, “O sweet creature!” then kiss me hard, (3. 3.418-422.)
While this story would be unbelievable to most, Othello already holds doubts about Desdem...
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IAGO: Yours, by this hand! and to see how he prizes
The foolish woman, your wife! She gave it him, and he
Hath given it to his whore. (Shakespeare 4.1.169-172.)
Iago says Cassio holds little respect for Desdemona. He paints Cassio to be someone who sleeps with many women. By Iago’s clever plan of using Cassio as a pawn, Othello further believes Iago and doubts Desdemona. Othello then is even more convinced of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness.
Iago’s use of rhetoric causes Othello to believe Desdemona untrue. Iago is able to do this by finding Othello’s weaknesses and exploiting them. Iago not only give Othello the impression that Desdemona untruthful, but also indicates that Cassio even deceives Othello. Even though Desdemona remains loyal to Othello, Iago’s manipulation proves to be stronger than Othello’s trust.
Works Cited
Othello, William Shakespeare
Othello is such a gullible character with so much trust in the wrong people. He trusts Iago before he trusts his own wife, Desdemona; he let Iago get into his mind. Iago arises any doubt Othello has for anyone he ever trusted making them all seem untrustworthy. More then anything Iago uses pathos to appeal to emotion. “ But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. I am not what I am” (Othello, Shakespeare, Act I Scene I Line 65-66). Iago talks about being open and honest; although this is not true it makes the other characters feel secure. Othello is a strong character, but Iago is his downfall. Blinded by jealousy and questions Othello will no longer trust Desdemona nor Cassio, because of this he will meet his
Desdemona's naivety is the prime cause of the conflict in "Othello" because she doesn't know that Iago is depriving her in Othello's mind by using her actions against her. Desdemona loves Othello, but also is benevolent in helping anyone even if it might be practiced against her. Cassio asked Desdemona if she can help get Othello's trust back, only as Othello and Iago enters they see Cassio leave and gets a bit
Othello has many positive traits, including being a great leader and loyal. He also has one negative trait that ultimately leads to his death; jealousy. Iago provokes deep, strong emotions in Othello, jealousy being the strongest. Jealousy is a nasty little emotion. It causes people to do terrible things because once it is on a person’s conscience, it stays for quite some time. Because of these effects, jealousy can impact some of the strongest people such as Othello. The love between Desdemona and Othello was portrayed so elevated and pure and was filled with religious words and phrases that just added to the strength and sanctity of their love. Othello has such a strong mind, but jealousy caused by the manipulation of Iago, negatively impacts him. Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is cheating on him with his friend Cassio. When Othello asks Iago for proof of Desdemona’s deceit, Iago describes scenes and events in which Othello has a reason to be jealous. In Act III, Scene I Iago is describing to Othello, Desdemona and Cassio’s imagined relationship, “It is impossible you should see this/ were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, as salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross as ignorance made drunk.” These images planted themselves inside Othello’s mind and haunted him until he did something about it. These images led to Othello believing Desdemona really did love
Manipulation is a very powerful word. People use this tactic everyday to get what they want in life. By deceiving people or tricking them into seeing a certain point of view, people gain power. To skillfully use the power of manipulation a person must use another person's weaknesses. By using a person's emotions against them, they can be manipulated with ease. In Shakespeare's Othello, the character of Iago uses these tactics almost to perfection to achieve his goals.
In William Shaspeare play Othello, Iago make Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does by taking advantage of any situation to make of Othello doubt. Iago make Othello thing a lot of crazy thing on his head, Othello got so jelous leading him to kill his own wife, Desdemona, satisfying iago obseccion for revenge.
In the first scene, he expresses his anger toward Othello for not choosing him to the position of lieutenant and instead choosing the much younger and unexperienced Cassio. Jealous and resentful Iago wants everyone else to feel how he does so he plans to manipulate the other characters. He manipulates Othello by using his own fears against him and he also takes advantage of his insecurities. Iago makes groundless accusations toward Othello, for example by saying “It is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets / He has done my office” (I.iii.369–370). Claiming that Othello slept with his wife, Emilia. Later on in the play Iago mentions that he wants to go after Desdemona because Othello went after his wife, he wants to get even he expresses this by saying “wife for wife”
Throughout the novel, up until his insanity, Othello is described as a temperate man whose honor does not allow him to believe assumptions unless he has been shown proof. Firstly, when the men of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, confront Othello’s men, Othello calmly says, “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.” (10). Othello is confronted on the matter of his elopement with Desdemona with force and with words. Not only is he very cool about his dealings with violence, but also when he is asked to tell the story of how he had Desdemona fall in love with him he states the truth, and he doesn’t leave out any details of how he accomplished it. He openly admits that had any other man told his story, that man also would have won her heart. Only a truly honorable man can admit that it was a story, and not his personality that truly won the woman’s heart. Othello’s honor is shown by his trust in the people he knows and loves. When Iago tells Othello that he believes Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Othello does not believe Iago initially.
In Act three, Scene three, Desdemona agrees to speak to Othello in Cassio’s behalf) As Desdemona and Cassio discuss Cassio’s loss of rank and trust in Othello’s eyes. Iago brings to Othello’s attention the discussion taking place between Cassio and Desdemona. Iago knowing full well why the discussion is happening. Iago hints the pair seems to be spending a lot of time together. Iago plants the seed of doubt in Othello’s mind Othello begins to ponder the idea of whether Iago suspicions are true.
Lying by omission is incorporated into the theme of appearance versus reality. Othello often falls prey to Iago’s twisted words. Iago plants a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind about Desdemona when the men see her talking to Cassio. Cassio leaves in a hurry and Iago tells Othello that Cassio “would steal away so guilty-like/ Seeing you coming” (3.3.39-40). He is telling Othello that Cassio would only be leaving so quickly if he and Desdemona were involved in something clandestine. Iago is planting seeds of doubt in Othello’s mind. He is making it seem that Cassio is acting suspicious, but in reality, Cassio is leaving quickly because he is “ill at ease” (3.3.30). around Othello given his current situation after the drinking incident in Act II. Another example of Iago twisting Othello’s reality is when Othello says he will only believe that Desdemona is unfaithful to him when he sees “ocular proof” (3.3.360) with his own eyes. When Iago manages to procure the handkerchief and place it in Cassio’s possession, Othello effortlessly takes it as proof and therefore is completely convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity. To Othello, it appears that Desdemona is cheating, because Cassio has her handkerchief, but in reality, Iago had planted it in Cassio’s chambers for him to find. Iago is liar; who makes other character believe what he wants them to believe through twisting his words
In Act 3 Scene 3 of this play Iago is able to convince Othello of Desdemona’s unfaithful character through the way in which he carefully phrases his answers to Othello. Iago’s reputation is that of an honest man and many people, as well as Othello, believe him to be trustworthy. Since the perception of Iago is positive by a vast majority he has influence over forming the perception of others’ reputations since his word is taken with little or no argument. With Desdemona being yet another character whom many praise and trust it may seem hard to understand at first why Othello believes Iago over his own wife (Cavell, p. 129), since in the beginning of the play he praises her virtuous character. Since Othello was never aware of Desdemona’s supposed infidelity until Iago tells him of his suspicions Othello starts putting his trust in him. He was blind to it and lets Iago lead the way to enlightening him on the issue. He thinks of Iago as honest as he is known to be by many and believes that he “Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds” (3.3.259) and that he “knows all qualities, with a learnèd spirit, / Of human de...
Iago's honest betrayal has left Othello pondering over Desdemona's faithfulness. Believing the words of his most honest ancient, Othello gullibly succumbs to his insinuations of his wife, Desdemona, as being unfaithful. Through Othello's soliloquy, he is not the self-confident General formerly portrayed as. Instead, his indecision over his wife's infidelity has caused him to explore his flaws as a human being, showing signs of appearance versus reality.
All Iago had to do was hint at Desdemona being unfaithful and Othello’s becomes very bothered it and eventually starts believing it. The author of an essay does an analysis on Iago and says “He slowly poisons people’s thoughts, creating ideas in their heads without implicating himself. Iago even says himself that the advice he gives is free and honest and thus, people rarely stop to consider the possibility that Iago is fooling them.“ (Shakespeare’s Othello – Honest Iago). So Iago would hint at something going between Desdemona and Cassio so that Othello would become bothered and ask him what he means by that, it was like a game that Iago was playing, he would drop a little hint and then expect Othello to pick up on it and start questioning it and become more even suspicious. Brabantio tells Othello “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee” (I.ii.286-287), So In this scene Brabantio warns Othello that Desdemona has already fooled him and she might fool him too, so be careful, and it turns out, Othello believed in him after all and that’s part of the reason of why he thinks that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. It leads him to start questioning Desdemona in a very suspicious way. At one point he even hits her in front of a nobleman and that was very shocking to the nobleman because he believed him to be a very calm and collected gentleman but obviously he was a changed man. The nobleman even expresses his shock by saying that “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice, though I should swear I saw’t. ‘Tis very much make her amends; she weeps” (IV .i.217-219). This negative thinking and insecurity was one of the main reasons to Othello’s change in a negative way. A lot of this was Iago’s doing but it was also Othello’s fault to fall for Iago’s
Throughout the drama, Othello let Iago control him as if he was a puppet under his master’s hands. When Iago first brought up the idea that Desdemona and Cassio might be having an affair, Othello did not believe him, he had faith in his wife. After many lies that Iago planted in Othello’s ears, Othello started to believe him and he dropped most of the faith that he had in Desdemona. Iago told Othello that in his sleep, Cassio said “Sweet Desdemona, let us be wary, let us hide our love”. Cursed fate that gave thee the Moor” (III.iii.416-417).
...sio is in fact in love with Desdemona, and that Cassio is in fact doing dishonesty to Othello. Othello does get discouraged by this advice given by Iago, and eventually does confront Desdemona. The quote specifically displays how Iago can make Cassio seem evil to Othello. Iago persuades Othello into believing him, which creates a way for Iago to work around the truth. Iago completely changes the appearance of Cassio, therefore making Iago extremely intelligent and far superior.
It is evident that Iago has toyed with Othello’s mind to such an extent where he believes no one else because Othello argues against Emilia with Iago’s manipulations. Ironically, Othello accepts all of Iago’s lies yet ignores the truthful pleas of Desdemona. Through Iago’s manipulative nature, he is able to completely warp the perception of Othello and Roderigo, ultimately, destroying their lives.