To insert a modern day psychologist into the world of Othello would be extremely interesting, and potentially amusing. The psychologist would probably being appalled that the people in power were so mentally compromised. The doctor would be most drawn to Iago. His eccentricity and borderline sociopathy is enough to draw the eye of any trained professional. Iago would quickly be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. There is an extremely long list of traits that Iago has that prove this disorder is something he has, with the main trait being manipulation. Throughout the entire play Iago is seen as the master of manipulation and does an incredible job at bending those around him to do his will. Because Iago displays manipulation and …show more content…
Another way to put this would be that a person with antisocial personality disorder will display psychopathic or sociopathic traits beginning in early in their life and continuing into adulthood. People with this disorder often have a lack of empathy or remorse, an aggressiveness towards people in many situations, and deceitfulness and manipulation. For example, a person with antisocial personality disorder may justify an action that they made against someone else by saying, “well they had it coming.” Or, the person may play with people’s thoughts and emotions in order to receive personal gain, which could be anything from sex to money to …show more content…
Throughout the play there are countless instances that fully showcase Iago’s manipulative capabilities. For example, when convincing Othello that Desdemona has given Cassio her handkerchief, he says, “And to see how he prizes the foolish woman your wife! She gave it to him, and he hath giv’n it his whore.”(Shakespeare 4.1. 196-198). It is these exact words that lead Othello to his jealous murder of Desdemona which leads to large amounts of death and destruction towards the end of the play. The DSM elaborates on this criterion by describing the person in question as “frequently deceitful and manipulative in order to gain personal profit or pleasure” (DSM 660). This is consistent with Iago’s character as well, seeing as how his agenda against Cassio is only to promote himself in his ranks. He also seeks to destroy Othello in order to get back at him for promoting Cassio instead of himself. Another reason for Iago’s hatred towards Othello is that he has been accused of sleeping with Emilia, Iago’s wife. Both these motives are centered around revenge and selfish desires. Earlier in the play, Iago’s manipulation is brilliantly showcased through his interactions with Roderigo. In fact, when the ever slow and gullible Roderigo finally begins to catch onto the fact that Iago is using him, Iago says, “Thou hast taken
A psychopath easily demonstrates several discernible quirks. Iago, one of Shakespeare 's most notable characters from Othello, regularly displays unholy habits. Iago is a man who is determined to achieve his goals by manipulating and scheming plans to get what he wants. His shallow heart shows no mercy for those who oppose. A psychopath Iago undoubtedly fits the role of a psychopath because of his manipulative, emotionless and devious behavior throughout the entire play.
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is the antagonist and villain who causes all the trouble and disorder. Othello is the protagonist, and is the main person Iago’s destruction and revenge is aimed towards. Othello is naïve and gives everybody his trust even though he may not know them or they haven’t earned his trust yet. He often refers to Iago has “Honest” Iago, which is a direct showing of irony because Iago is not honest at all (Shakespeare, I, iii. 289). Iago is so angry that Othello didn’t give him the promotion that was given to Cassio that he plans to seek revenge against Othello. He seeks his revenge against Othello by manipulating and lying to all of the people around him including his closest friend Roderigo, Cassio, Othello’s wife Desdemona and even his own wife Emilia. In the end, Iago’s lies and manipulation led to the deaths of Roderigo, Emilia, Othello and Desdemona. This isn’t the first time many of these individual characteristics have shown up in one of Shakespeare’s plays.
One might argue that Iago is not a psychopath, but a sociopath. A sociopath is different from a psychopath in the sense that they have the ability to form bonds with others, and their lack of empathy and guilt is much less severe than a psychopath’s. Many would bring up
As early as the first scene of the play Iago shows us strong motives for his actions. In this first scene we see Othello, a general of Venice, has made Cassio his new lieutant. Iago feels he truly deserves his promotion as he says "I know my price, I am worth more no worse a place."(l.i.12) Iago over here is confused why Othello has made such a stupid decision. Iago is a man with a tremendous ego who knows, sometimes overestimates, his worth. Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, understands Iago when Iago said that he is "affined to love the Moor."(l.i.41-42) What Iago really means is "I follow him to serve my term upon him."(l.i.45) Iago wants to use Othello for his personal goals. We also must put ourselves into Iago's shoes. He is a man whose self-esteem and professional carrier have just been torn apart. Iago makes his actions of revenge toward Othello almost immediately by informing Brabantio, a Venetian senator and father of Desdemona, that "an old black ram (Othello) is tupping (his) white ewe (Desdemona)."(l.i.97)
One day while folding clothes, I saw a commercial sponsored by the President Barack Obama Ad Campaign that encouraged stay- at- home mothers and single mothers to go back to school to get their college degrees. President Obama is specifically assisting moms to go back to college by increasing federal stimulus monies as well as financial aid. Right then and there, I decided to go back to school to further my education and increase my chances of starting a career in the field I would be trained in. I wanted to be able to earn more than minimum wage in this already stressed job market. My decision to go back to school was not an easy decision. For the last seven years, I have been a stay- at- home mother and during that time I have often thought about going back to school and earning a degree. But, whenever the thought of going back to school crossed my mind I would feel as though I was neglecting my duties as a wife and mother. I also suffered from a paralyzing fear of failure that has always kept me from pursuing the possibilities of obtaining a higher education. After much prayer and discussion with my family, I finally made the decision to move forward with my plans to obtain a college education.
Throughout high school and during my undergraduate studies, education was never a top priority for me. Only during the past two years, in the "real world", have I realized the importance of education. I look back at those years and wish I had done more and realized all the potential I had in my hands and not wasted so much time. During my undergraduate career my social activities consumed my life. My friends were not motivated to do well in school so I followed their lead. My grades were low, and I did not even care. After I graduated in 1997 with a Psychology B.A. and lost touch with my old friends and old ways, I have realized that I should have spent more time doing some soul searching and thinking what it was that I wanted to do with my life. I liked Psychology but what I really wanted to do was work with children more closely. I had spent my junior and senior years involved in internships at Head Start and at a High School in a Program for teenaged mothers. I loved my work there. At Head Start I was a Teacher Aid for the pre-school, teaching the children to read, numbers etc. And at the High School I counseled the teenaged mothers, took care of their kids while they went to school and after the school day I tutored them with their homework. After being out of school for a while, I started to miss that. The feeling that I was teaching something those kids, the feeling that I was making a difference. I was determined to find a job in education, with my background in Psychology, how hard could it be? I found work at a residential school for runaways and abused teenaged females. It was great! I was ready to go, I was going to change the world and change those girls lives. What I didn't realize is that will alone does not make me a teacher and that I needed training, a lot of training. I made a lot of mistakes in that job. I got discouraged and decided to forget about working with children, forget teaching and do something else that paid more. So, I got a job as a Secretary, I did that for about two years. Teaching, working with children was always on my mind.
I want to go to college for the wholesome intellectual stimulation and to get more involved with my community. College will be my last opportunity to do so before I enter the work force. At college I can be intellectually and academically challenged; I will be able to learn with friends who are as dedicated to learning and the pursuit of knowledge as I am. My goals in college are to acquire the skills that I need to lead a successful and productive life, to expand my knowledge of the world, to step out of my comfort zone, and to become more proactive.
The character of Iago, from Othello, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, is one of the most despicable villains in all of Shakespearean literature. Iago seeks to exact revenge on his general, Othello, after he is passed for the position of lieutenant, by a much younger and less-experienced soldier, Cassio. Iago uses manipulation as his tool for revenge, and is very successful in ruining the lives of the two men. While the audience is aware of Iago’s deception and use of cunning, the characters are oblivious to his genuine motives. Through his love of power, ability to manipulate others, and his self-destructive lust for revenge, Iago betrays all who are close to him and gradually entangles himself within
Shakespeare develops the character Iago into an instigator and evil man. Iago attempts and succeeds to convince Othello that his wife has had an affair with his friend Cassio. We see Iago beginning his plans at the very start of the play. “But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at, I am not what I am.”(Oth 1:1:64-65) He immediately tries to start trouble with Brabantio and Othello over the marriage to Desdemona. Iago want to get in Othello’s way because he was passed over for general and Cassio was chosen instead. We see from the start how he plots against Othello and he involves several characters in his plans. “And what’s he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free. I give and honest, probal to thinking, and indeed the course to win the Moor again? For tis easy Th’ inclining Desdemona to subdue in any honest suit; she’s framed as fruitful…”(2:3:295-300).
Iago has a sophisticated way of deceiving the characters of the play, making him a very intelligent person. Early in the play Othello introduces Iago to the Duke of Venice as, “My ancient / A man he is of honesty and trust” (!. iii. 284-85). This is but one of the times in the play that Iago is referred to as honest and true. Throughout the play Iago is considered to be honest, but is actuality the villain. In order to maintain this false image one has to have a beguiling character. After Othello and his lieutenant, Michael Cassio, return from the war against the Ottomans, there is a celebration. At this celebration Iago puts his manipulation to work. He knows that Othello and Desdemona’s love for each other is very true, but he tells Rodrigo that Desdemona had love for Cassio: “With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. / Ay, smile upon her, do…” (II. I. 164-65). This quote shows that Iago deceives Roderigo into believing that Desdemona loves Cassio, when in Roderigo’s eyes it is virtually impossible. Iago basically controls Rodrigo because Iago deceives him into believing that he can have Desdemona, by both Cassio and Othello.
On closer examination, throughout the play we see Iago manipulating all the characters in turn; this shows that he is an expert master manipulator for everyone to be deceived by him. When reading this play we don’t expect Othello to be as easily manipulated by Iago as he was.
What should be noticed in particular is that, essentially, Shakespeare invented Iago; set him down in his dramatis personae with the single epithet “a villain”; and devoted most of the play’s lines and scenes to showing in detail the cunning, malignancy, and cruelty of his nature, including the cowardice of his murder of his wife. It seems to me therefore impossible to believe, as some recent critics would have us do, that the root causes of Othello’s ruin are to be sought in some profound moral or psychological deficiency peculiar to him. (137)
Imagine if someone tricked you into doing something for their own well being. Well, Iago certainly finds a way to trick all of the characters, so he can benefit from it. He does a great deal with Cassio; especially when they drink together. In Othello, Iago can truly trick Cassio into doing almost anything he wants; such as getting Cassio, so drunk that he stabs Montano and forced Othello to strip his lieutenancy from him. Iago truly outdoes himself when he “...Give my wife a
The middle of junior year meant it was closer to senior year and that means time is running out for me to make a decision on a college and occupation. I was set on doing some sort of art major because drawing was one of my favorite hobbies, but my parents said no and to keep it as a hobby because being an artist won’t make money. So then I was back to the beginning contemplating on what is to come with my future. Later, I started to look at colleges and realized that I didn’t know what to look for. I knew that tuition was kind of a big deal so I looked, but it didn’t make any sense to me on how money and cost of housing and credit hours worked. Soon I became depressed because of all the stress with finding an occupation and college was too much. My grades started to drop because I couldn’t concentrate or I didn’t feel like doing anything. I talked to my counselor about stressing out on making a life after graduating high school and how doing that gave me depression. She was listening to my every word and gave me great advice to not worry about the future and don’t try to plan everything because it’s hard to obtain something we can’t hold. I listened and tried not to think too much on finding my life. Soon the year ended as fast as the next year
The goal of finishing school has always been ingrained into me at a young age. My mother has always hammered into my mind that I should always do my best, and get an education because it will lead to better opportunities in life. The constant nagging eventually formed into a fear within me that I don’t want to be a worthless bum, and actually make something of myself. At first glanced, everything seem too easy that I eventually did enough just to get by. I did the bare minimum at school just to get that passing grade. As I entered high school, there was a fear that this might be somewhat challenging. That fear quickly went away. Attending a high school within a lower economical area of the city, I was left to my free will. Of course the words of my mother were always in the back of my mind, but how was I to comprehend it? I was passing my classes so I thought I was doing a pretty good job. After four years of high school, and with no guidance what-so-ever, I was left in a fog. I eventually started attending classes at a community college because that 's what some friends told me to do. It was the best option because it was cheaper than going to a state college. What did I know? I was working, and going to school at the same time so I 'm doing pretty good for myself. Now many years down the line, and I still where I am as a kid. Unlike days of the past, I do have a sense of direction, but still not sure which direction to take. I am currently working my way to getting my college degree, but at the same time wondering if I should continue on this path. The problem that has been bouncing back and forward in my head is whether I should continue school or just give up and focus on working.