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Relationship from othello and desdemona
Character analysis in the play othello
Essay on Iago manipulations
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Iago holds a reputation of loyalty and trust but is ultimately out for personal revenge. He manipulates several characters in seek of vengeance. The manipulation starts by his support in Roderigo’s grudge against Othello. He tries to play both sides by claiming to have defended Othello during this conversation when really he was encouraging it. Iago envies Othello because he believes he slept with his wife. When Roderigo finds out about the marriage between Othello and Desdemona he tells Iago he wants to commit suicide. Roderigo says “It is silliness to live, when to live is torment and then have a we a prescription to die when death is our physician” (1.3.350). Iago, being a mischievous manipulator, tells him not to do it but insists Roderigo
to use his anger towards revenge. In reality, he is using him for his own personal revenge against Othello because of an accusation he isn’t even sure is true. In the soliloquy following, Iago says “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse. For I mine own gained knowledge should profane” (1.3.429). He wouldn’t be wasting his skills on an idiot if he wasn’t planning on getting something useful out of it. Roderigo’s gullibility has turned him against Cassio and Iago is creating an affair that is basically non-existent by making people believe Cassio and Desdemona have a connection.
In Othello, Iago is Shakespeare’s most malicious character and serves as a vehicle to these two themes. Iago despises Othello; he has a strong will to destroy Othello’s life, yet the motive behind his plan goes unexplained. Iago is a great manipulator of the tongue and lies to everyone in order to advance his plan; however, every character in the play considers Iago an honest character, and Othello even associates Iago with light and eyesight. Othello continuously asks Iago to explain or make something clearer. Until the very end, Iago appears to be honest and helpful to the other characters, but underneath this seemingly harmless façade, Iago is a demon with the strongest will; he will stop at nothing until he ruins Othello’s life. Iago uses a positive appearance to enact his
In the light of the various descriptions of an unstable person, Iago is a psychopath with his manipulative choice of words. He tells people things that they want to hear and he says it in a manner that makes him appear exceptional. “ I humbly do beseech you of your pardon, For too much loving you.” (3.3.106) In act three, Iago pretends to be Othello’s confidant, and he wants Othello to suspect his wife is having an affair. Iago has a pseudo relationship with Othello the entire duration of the 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.
Of all of Shakespeare 's villainous characters, Iago is one of the most unforgettable ones. The deception he constantly shows throughout the play, confirms the complexities of Iago’s character that he is not simply a man seeking vengeance. Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom argues that Iago is an artist of evil. In the same way that some people enjoy writing songs or filming movies, Iago enjoys ruining people 's lives(Bloom). Iago conducts his evil acts with a sense of artistry in the sense he appreciates the cleverness of every particular step he takes in his scheme for vengeance. While the perceived reason for deceiving Othello is that he has been passed over for promotion to lieutenant, Iago’s motivations are never clearly expressed and
After witnessing Desdemona proclaim her love to Othello and Brabantio, her father, acknowledging their marriage, Roderigo, suitor of Desdemona, tells Iago that he is going to drown himself. However, Iago intervenes, saying “Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our / wills are gardeners.”(1.3.363-364,) persuading Roderigo not to commit suicide but, to take care of himself. Then Iago upholds his words with more persuasions, to further uplift Roderigo. Roderigo then drops his idea of killing himself and when asked by Iago to leave with him to Cyprus and commanded to “Put money in thy purse.”(1.3.182), he does so willingly. Iago’s power of language shines here in that not only does he saves Roderigo from killing himself, but he gains his trust to use let him be used by Iago however he
One would conclude that Iago would have motive behind his ruthless and elaborate plans. However, it seems that Iago committed these amoral crimes, for power, for psychopathic reasons, and for sport. He has displayed his power over Othello by proving to himself, that he could in fact exploit those around him, distorting what they believe to be true. We will look into Iago’s soliloquies, dissect them, and discover his plans.
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).
He says: "I love the gentle Desdemona", and this suffices to explain his feelings. It is obvious that Othello is a much 'deeper', more sensitive man than Iago. Another contrast is that Iago's motivation is himself and his self-interest. Iago desires success and gain for himself and no other. It appears that his major grudge against Othello is that he promoted "a fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife" (that is, Cassio) above himself.
This is because his plots against Othello are too destructive to Othello’s life and a motive of an affair to be the main driving force of this seems counterintuitive, especially that as we go on throughout the play, the rumour that Othello had an affair with Iago is proven to be false and almost ‘made up’. This is evident when Iago says, “I know not if't be true; / But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, / Will do as if for surety" (1.3.388-390). This suggests that Iago could be plotting against Othello as he shows a much more psychopathic and evil stance as he would invent other motives or believe false accusations to provide the framework for the devious problems he is creating. This is because the rest of the play makes it clear that this affair is not true; Othello and Iago's wife are not even vaguely interested in one another and it seems Iago is the only one to believe otherwise. Iago is lying to us and he knows it, but that doesn't change his attitude towards Othello. To Iago, the destruction of Othello is a game as seen where he calls this “…….a pleasure, to me a sport” once again enhancing this idea of Iago being this psychopath that is pure evil. A view similar to that of William Robertson Turnbull, who writes that, “Iago has no conscience, no ability to perform good deeds. Iago is a psychopath, and is not capable of forming affectionate relationships or feeling guilt and
At first we feel comfortable with taking this adventure- who cares about the exploitation of Roderigo? However, the journey starts to become distasteful when we realise Desdemona is involved in his master plan. Iago will not be content 'Til [he has] evened with him, wife for wife'. It is from this point on the any commendable feelings we had for him quickly deteriorate into disgust. However, with a greedy ear, we still watch the play, waiting in anticipation as to whether Othello will discover the sinister plans of Iago.
Annoyed by the fact that Othello overlooked him and promoted Cassio, he states:”I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.../ Horribly stuff’d with epithets of war.../ ’I have already chose my officer/ And what was he?/ Forsooth, a great arithmetician” (1.1.11-19). Iago says this to Roderigo in order to show his ridicule and hate towards Othello’s decision of promoting Cassio implying that he felt Cassio did not deserve the promotion but he did. Based on his sense of justice, Iago felt that because of Othello’s unwise and ridiculous decision for promoting Cassio, Othello deserves to be ruined and punished. Iago also hatefully states “But partly led to diet my revenge,/ For that I do suspect the lusty Moor/ Hath leap’d into my seat; the thought whereof/ Doth gnaw my inwards;/ And nothing can or shall content my soul/ Till I am even with him, wife for wife” (2.1.295-299). Iago is simply stating that he is enraged in the suspicion that Othello may have slept with his wife, Emilia and that he seeks revenge which is Iago’s sense of justice since he believes given this reason, Othello should be punished and deserves revenge that will bring him and his wife to ruin. Thus the driving force that drove Iago is revenge because Iago chose to plot the evil scheme and revenge against Othello believing he deserved and that is was justified. But, others may still claim that the driving force that drove Iago is mainly power, revenge, and
Iago is a very complex character seeing that many of his actions are unreasonable as he often attacks others maliciously. Iago shows the characteristics that make up a good person, such as amiable, sensitive, bright, kind, and sympathetic. This evil character, along with other evil characters that Shakespeare has included in his work, are many times purely evil for no reason. This type of character would basically be considered a psychopath due to his insensible acts. The only possible reason for Iago’s hatred of Othello could be the fact that he has suspicions that Emilia is sleeping with Othello. This would create a parallelism between these two characters as the only way for him to get his revenge is to make Othello feel the way he does. Thus resulting in the death of his wife seeing that the way Othello responds to incidents is with violence. Iago, often being known as the most evil character out of all the Shakespearian plays seeing that “even when his evil deeds are out in the open, Iago never repents” (Ormann 1). The character of Iago targets Othello, Desdemona and Cassio in order to ruin their happy lives. He sees them as a target because he is simply jealous of the relationships they have seeing that he and Emilia represent more of a parasitic relationship more than anything else. It is easy to note that Iago preys on the innocent and feeds them lies to which the faulted character believes to be
Manipulation is a characteristic that can ruin the lives of many, treacherously and maliciously. Several characters in Othello and Macbeth manipulate others throughout the plays to try and satisfy their own needs and desires. The irony in the two plays is that Othello, has a villain who logically should never succeed in his evil because he is surrounded by so much good. However, Iago does succeed in destroying the lives of nearly everyone in the play, and for the weakest of justifications. In Macbeth, on the other hand, the title character seems to win his evil game, but in the end the good beats him, and he pays with his life. By looking at both William Shakespeare’s Othello and Macbeth, one can see how methodical manipulation succeeds despite the goodness within the environment, and how it may appear to triumph when it does not, despite the evil surrounding it.
Roderigo became angry at Cassio, and tried to murder him. Cassio wasn’t harmed because of the protective gear he had on. Roderigo was wounded by Cassio, and Cassio was wounded by Iago. Iago then ended Roderigo’s life by physically stabbing him in the back. Othello and Iago had an agreement that Iago would kill Cassio, and when Othello was given the signal that Cassio had died, he would kill Desdemona. Once Cassio was stabbed in the leg, Othello heard his cries, and continued to go to his bedroom to kill Desdemona. After smothering Desdemona, Othello decides to kill
Othello is the main character, and Iago is a solider in his army. Iago was passed a position of lieutenant to another solider named Cassio. This action made Iago very angry and jealous, so he would seek a sort of revenge throughout the play. In the play Othello Iago, a respected individual, shows very little respect towards women in the play. In lines 103 through 125 in Act 2 scene one Iago is very disrespectful towards the women in the play. In Iago’s speeches, especially in lines 109 through 119, Iago acts in a very heavily manner towards Desdemona, and Emilia in these scenes throughout the play. In the opening acts we learn that Othello is a respected man, and a leader of an army. He lives out a long history of heroic stories and epics that make women woo over him. He marries Desdemona, while carrying a relationship with Emilia, the wife of Iago. Iago finds out about a past relationship with Othello and Emilia and becomes jealous and seeks revenge again. Iago then thinks of a way to make Othello jealous. Iago shows no remorse towards anyone in these situations and uses not only his wife but also Desdemona to seek revenge on Othello out of jealousy. Throughout act 2 Iago talks to and about women in a very rude