Iago's Weaknesses In Othello

In drama as in life, the “bad guy” outsmart 's the good ones. Indeed, we sometimes do not even realize the bad guy is a bad guy until it is too late; he can be that cleverly deceitful. William Shakespeare knew this ill-fated truth,as it became the premise of one of his greatest tragedies, Othello. Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello are all swindled by the mastermind Iago and do not realize the villain’s schemes until tragedy has struck. Nevertheless, Iago achieves his goals not because the characters are dim-witted or stupid by any means. Iago’s machinations work because he not only manipulates the vices of these men, but he also exploits their virtues - all for his benefit and their detriment. First of all, Iago realizes Roderigo’s weaknesses and uses these to initiate his plan of revenge. Being gullible is one of Roderigo 's faults. He believes so easily that he still has a chance to get Desdemona for himself, even after she marries Othello. Roderigo assumes that “it isn 't possible that Desdemona will continue her love for the Moor” (Shakespeare I. iii. 367-368). All Iago has to do is dangle the bait in front of the naive Roderigo, and he bites; no questions asked. Iago also takes advantage of Roderigo 's desperateness. Iago knows that although she is married Roderigo still wants to be with Desdemona. The more

By using each individual thing one by one and piecing it all together strategically everything worked out perfectly in his mind. By having these guys work against each other to make everything that needed to be done work without any extreme problems. Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello all knowing each other very well, if they all knew what would be happening they would have stopped it before it could have taken place, but not knowing they are blind to the fact that they are placing themselves into