Iago's Manipulation In William Shakespeare's Othello

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Recommended: Character analysis of Iago of William Shakespeare's Othello

In William Shakespeare's play, Othello, Iago is a malicious manipulator who acts out without true motives, but uses them as excuses. Iago is great at saying the right things to people, deceiving them to get the response he wants. He never acts upon his plan, yet he is still involved through creating lies and providing misleading situations. Iago is jealous of Cassio because he was not chosen as lieutenant, Cassio was. He conceals his animosity of Othello to plot vengeance, a brilliant, thought out scheme to exploit his master. Iago is egotistical as he creates jealousy in other characters to make them feel as he does. He is blinded by his ego, envy and anger, his main goal is for everyone to feel as he does, he thrives for others to be equally jealous. He aims to complete his goal through betrayal and manipulation of multiple characters, particularly Othello. No Fear Shakespeare: Othello written by John Crowther states,

Iago’s motivations are notoriously murky...he claims to be motivated by different things: resentment that Othello passed him over for a promotion in favor of Michael Cassio; jealousy because he heard a rumor that Othello slept with Iago’s wife, Emilia; suspicion that Cassio slept with Emilia too. Iago gives the impression that he’s tossing out plausible motivations as he thinks of them, and that we’ll never understand what really drives his villainy. (How do I cite when it is on the character sheet without a page number?)

Iago’s enmity is motiveless because even though he provides the justification for his hatred, Iago does not have legitimate reasons for his malevolent actions.

During the first scene of the play, Iago tells the audience one of his reasons for hating Othello. Othello, the general of Venice, ma...

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...ple around him. Although it may seem Iago is honest to just the audience, since we see him deceive everyone who he has contact with, the audience feels a connection and loyal friendship with him, but we are just as manipulated as others have been by Iago. He remains clean throughout the play with his hands clean, until his plan started to fall apart and he has to take action upon himself to fulfill his goal. Iago is a self-centered man whose ego is damaged. He is able to hide his true feelings and thoughts to enable him to plot revenge. Iago has numerous motives ranging from hatred, a damaged pride, and jealousy that helps him drive to success for revenge.

Works Cited

Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Othello.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.

Shakespeare, William, and Jane Coles. Othello. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 1992. Print.

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