Humans are unable to recognize that jealousy is an incurable disease that can cause manipulative false realities. In the play Othello, written by William Shakespeare, it is a clear indication of how one's inherent fears and uncertainties can be exploited and manipulated by a corrupted mind to conquer personal motives. To annihilate Iago’s personal jealousy towards certain characters Iago completely understands his victim’s nature and needs and uses this to completely destroy them. To add to this, Iago does not have any core beliefs or morals easily allowing him to play with others emotions without regret. Therefore Iago’s hate for jealousy leads to Iago manipulating others and playing with their feelings to benefit himself.
Iago has a deep
Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him" (Act i,Scene iii||357-360)
Iago's manipulative words suggest that they team up to take down the common enemy Othello. Iago well knowingly knows that even if they manage to take down Othello, Roderigo will be unsuccessful to obtain Desdemona. This is where Iago’s low morales and core beliefs kick in as he believes that his self-motive is greater than anyone or anything else. All in all Iago’s low morales and coral beliefs help him target those he is jealous of and destroy them mentally with his manipulation
Jealousy leads both Iago and Othello to almost identical downfalls. The play shows how jealousy can act as a deadly disease and no matter how small it can start, it keeps spreading and it can affect everyone in the same way. The feeling of jealousy plays the biggest role in Othello’s downfall. This was proven throughout the book with various other characters such as Iago and Roderigo. To begin with, Iago is jealous of the fact that Cassio is now second in command, as he believes that he is more fit for the job as he says:
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damned in a fair wife,
That never set a squadron in the
Iago also creates a new profound hate for Othello for not recognizing that he is more worthy and has more qualification for the job, resulting in the start of his plans to destroy Othello and Cassio. This was the start to the downfall of many characters. Iago is seen as a demonic character who can create false realities for his victims. When conversing with his victims he develops a mutual bond with the victim creating a false reality that he has a friendly figure and not an enemy. Othello refers to Iago as “honest Iago” throughout the play unaware of his devilish acts. His worst enemy Cassio even refers to Iago as an honest man saying: "I never knew a Florentine more kind and honest" (Act i.Scene i||40). This shows the power of words that dwell within Iago, even though he is on the path to destroy his victims, he is still known as a kind noble man. Due to Iago’s empty inner shell, he was absolutely heartless creating many false realities and always going from an outsider to an insider corrupting the minds of many innocent characters, leading to their downfalls and ultimately to his own downfall too. To conclude Iago manipulates and corrupts people to a certain extent where he is furthermore corrupting
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
One of the most prominent traits in Iago is his ability to manipulate. His entire plan of bringing about the downfall of Othello involves him manipulating characters into believing what he wants them to believe. In fact, he is so good at manipulating people that no one even suspects him of doing anything wrong because they believe he is such an honorable man. “Iago deceives Othello by also manipulating other people to achieve his ends” (Boyce). This shows that Iago is able to deceive mostly everyone in the play. However, Iago himself says in Act I scene i line 62 of Othello “I am not what I am.” He means that he is not the loyal, honest friend that he appears to be to everyone else. His manipulations include using Roderigo for his money if he helps him against Othello while making it seem like he will help Roderigo win Othello’s wife, Desdemona (Shakespeare). He also manipulates Othello by making it seem as if Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, which is what ultimately brings about the hero’s downfa...
In Othello, the jealousy factor is deliberately introduced by Iago, with the precise intention of destroying those whom he feels have wronged him. Since it is intentionally used with malicious intent, it has catastrophic results. Iago himself is jealous of Cassio; he feels that he should have been appointed to Cassio's position by Othello, and since he wasn't he hates both Othello and Cassio. Iago channels the jealousy that Othello and Cassio have made him feel, and uses it against them in a hateful plan. Iago starts the process by planting the seeds of jealousy in Othello's mind, telling him Desdemona has been unfaithful. He then proceeds to cultivate the growing jealousy by feeding it with more lies, and twisting innocent events into situations which would serve his needs (his telling Othello that Cassio and Desdemona met in secret, and convincing him that Desdemona vied for Cassio's reinstatement as lieutenant because she loved him, for example). When the seeds had flourished, and Iago had succeeded in driving Othello mad with jealousy, Iago harvested his crop and convinced Othello to kill Desdemona. Othello's killing Desdemona would both rid Iago of Desde...
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.
Is he a heartless man who’s only happiness is to bring sorrow upon others? No, Iago has a just reason for what he does, even though he causes the deaths of Cassio, Emilia, and Desdemona in his search for revenge; Iago is not a heartless fiend, just a man wronged. Fred West addresses the fact of Iago misrepresentation, “It is not sufficient to simply drape Iago in allegorical trappings and proclaim him Mister Evil or a Machiavel or a Vice. Such a limited view of Iago is an injustice to the complexity of his character, since Shakespeare’s studies in personality are acclaimed by psychologists for their accuracy and profundity” (27). West seems to be reminding us that just seeing Iago as the representation of evil within the play of “Othello” is the wrong way to paint him.
Iago does not only serve as the antagonist in this play, but he also is the vehicle by which the play progresses. They play in the beginning did not have much action in it because Iago was still deciding as to how he would kill Othello. Then, as his plan develops the play also progresses. He forces characters into taking actions they never would have normally considered and all the while he just sits back and maintains his innocent smile and trusting façade. And that "is how a villain is defined." A villain "can alter those actions around them without them knowing it." (Campbell 116). We saw Iago do that on several occasions. For example he was able to convince Roderigo to give him money and to try growing a beard. He also convinced Othello into thinking that Casio was an irresponsible drunk, and he convinced Desdemona into thinking he was going to do everything he could to patch things up with her and Othello. While all he was actually doing was just trying to keep Roderigo busy so he would stay out of the picture. And then with Othello he was turning friend against friend, and with Desdemona it was lover against lover. And all the while these people thought he had their best interest in mind.
The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare was written in 1604 during the Elizabeth era. Othello is one of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s dramas. He enjoyed unheralded success in the combat zone, which gave him the reputation as one of Venice’s most competent generals. Even though he has great success in the battlefield, he has a dramatic flaw that causes a downfall in his life. The dramatic flaw that causes his downfall is jealousy. This was brought on by a simple persuasion of Iago, the evil character in the play. Even though Iago used extreme manipulation to get Othello to be jealous, Iago did not really have to try very hard to get Othello in a jealous state of mind. Othello was blinded by his jealousy which led him down a path of constant questioning of his wife and his friend Cassio. Throughout the play we see his dramatic flaw sink him deeper and deeper into a cloud of doubt which eventually leads him to kill not only his love of his life but also himself.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, good is often confronted by evil, in which almost every case is in the form of jealousy. Iago, the plays antagonist, is a very manipulative villain. Iago uses his own agony and distress brought upon him by his envy of others, to provoke the same agony within the characters in the play. Jealousy’s ability are shown to influence people to new ends and make all humanistic judgment disappear leaving that man a monster torn apart by envy. Jealousy’s true destructive wrath and the pure evil it brings out in people can be revealed through Iago’s actions throughout the tragedy Othello.
Iago is one of the most complex characters in William Shakespeare’s Othello. To most of the characters, he is “Honest Iago” (Shakespeare, 5.2.73). however, the audience knows that Iago is the furthest thing from honest. Iago is a devil bent on destroying the lives of everyone around him. At the beginning of the play, the audience learns that Iago is determined to ruin Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. He has appointed a new lieutenant, Michael Cassio. This angers Iago because he feels that he has much more military experience and should be the lieutenant. Iago has also heard rumours that both Othello and Cassio have slept with his wife Emilia. He concocts a malicious plan to ruin the lives of all who have wronged him, and consequently establishing
Othello doesn’t realize Iago doesn’t care towards him and never did after Iago wasn’t promoted to lieutenant. Iago plays the as the main director of what happens in Othello’s life. Othello doesn’t realize it thought. Iago is able to hide his emotions towards others. Which allows Othello not to notice he is faking every emotion of helping Othello. Iago is always at ease when in the eyes of his peers. “He moves jovially and at ease among the gentlemen of Cyprus, even as he sets up Cassio for a drunken fall” (Barnes 15). This shows how committed Iago was to strike revenge against his foes. Only a psychopath could hide their feelings in front of the people you want to hurt. “Iago refuses to show the "outward action" which would "demonstrate / The native act and figure of [his] heart / In complement extern" (“Where Iago Lies” 19). Because of Iago, Othello creates his own anxiety. He has anxiety because he now worries that Desdemona may be cheating on him with Cassio. Iago creates Othello’s fear by twisting his words to have different meanings. “Iago: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy/ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on” (Shakespeare 1816-1818). Iago is manipulating Othello into believing that Othello shouldn’t be jealous, which tricks Othello into being jealous. The green-eyed monster is another term for jealousy. It is Othello though that allows him to get trapped in anxiety. Iago exploits him to bring Othello to a tragic
Everyone involved with Iago separately thinks that he is doing them favors, when actually he is a backstabbing, conniving person who is the essence of evil and is often referred to as half-man, half-devil. 'I am not what I am.' This is a quote that should not be taken for granted. In this quote, Iago describes himself as a demonic Satan-like person contradicting God's quote 'I am that I am.' Indeed, Iago represents the very essence of the play's theme: appearance versus reality. In reality he is the cunning, untrustworthy, selfish, and plotting evil that the audience gets to know through his soliloquies, but in his appearance he is that same old, trustworthy, run of the mill Iago that they think they know so well. In fact, Othello, after he murders his own wife, accredits Iago as, 'An honest man he is, and hates the slime/ That sticks on filthy deeds.' Inopportunely for Othello, who seems to trust Iago so, Iago is the exact opposite of what Othello takes him to be. Iag...
In Shakespeare’s play Othello there is a main character named Iago. In this play, Iago is the instigator. From the very beginning the readers can see that he is single minded and determined. Iago portrays an act of being persuasive and helpful to the other characters in the play, yet as the audience we see his hatred, selfishness, and jealousy. He succeeds in fooling the other characters with his “loyalty” and “honesty” and this is what makes him one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains.
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.
Iago’s cunning strength lies in his ability to undermine every single character through their weaknesses. Specifically, Othello and Roderigo are the main victims of his lies and deceit. The trait Iago abuses in Roderigo is his naive nature. From the very start of the play, Iago cheats Roderigo of his money and later tricks him into attempting to kill Cassio: “I have no great devotion to the deed, / And yet he hath given me satisfying reasons. / ‘Tis but a man gone. Forth my sword! He dies!” (5.1. 8-10). Evidently, this gullible character is manipulated through the words of Iago as he attempts to kill Cassio for a chance at Desdemona. After his failure in doing so, Iago stabs Roderigo, as he is of no use anymore. In giving his trust to the misleading antagonist, Roderigo leaves himself completely vulnerable. This demonstrates how ruthlessly Iago uses this foolish character, as his longing for Desdemona is the cause of his death. The other victim, Othello, is the main target and falls furthest into this manipulative villain’s layers of lies. Iago is very strategic in his attacks and notices that Othello has a great deal of trust in him which can be easily torn apart. Iago uses this trait to get Othello to believe everything he says and begins by planting the seed of suspicion that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio because of his understanding of
Shakespeare Othello was an act of many evil traits, including betrayal, manipulation and jealousy. Evil can be described as an act of someone who causes grievance, destruction, or impairment for one owns satisfaction; Iago, unquestionably, fits the description. Othello represented these traits through character, Iago, as he reveals his true nature of evil by diminishing people lives and becoming the downfall of many people around him. “Hell and night/ Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light” (I, iii, 394-396). Though Iago may not have a purpose of participating in many of his act of evil, he presents it as a self-obsessed driven supremacy. He plots to destroy Othello and to gain dominance by observing each weakness from Othello, and takes advantage of it. He uses his aid of human nature to help with his evil schemes and plots throughout the play. Because he identified Othello’s weaknesses and was able to use verbal persuasion to not only gain Othello’s trust, but to also use that as a benefit to what he wanted to accomplish. It is great importan...