Othello Power Analysis

Lord Acton once said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, which William Shakespeare proves in his play “Othello” through the manipulative character Iago. Throughout the play Iago craves power and deceives others to receive power. Over time Iago gets the power he desires and his corrupt self is eventually seen by others. Power debases Iago as how he got the power is not righteous. Within the tragedy, Shakespeare uses the idea of appearance versus reality with Iago, to show how authority can pervert a person.

The tragedy starts with Othello naming Michael Cassio the lieutenant of his troops. Suddenly Iago displays jealousy, stating “I am not what I am” (II.i.66), foreshadowing his duplicity. Early on, Iago displays his desire for power by showing anger after Othello does not name him lieutenant. Iago’s power crave turns him into a false person, as Iago appears to be different than how he is in reality. Iago never has a motive for hating Othello, and he changes his reasoning as he slowly becomes corrupt through lying and manipulation. Iago goes on to

say “Men should be what they seem” (III.iii.128) as Shakespeare inserts irony to display the idea of appearance vs reality , as Iago is the only not true man in the tragedy. Initially, Iago shows internal corruption as he is power hungry and from then on Shakespeare displays Iago’s sly manipulation through Cassio, Roderigo, and Othello to gain supremacy within Othello’s army.
Iago desires power, and gets his power through the manipulation of characters, such as the Florentine Michael Cassio. For example Iago takes advantage of Cassio’s low tolerance for alcohol and eventually gets him drunk and into a fight which Othello finds out about. Cassio never finds out about Iago planning these events as Cassio leaves him at the end of the night with “Good night, honest Iago” (II.iii.302). Cassio calling Iago honest illustrates Cassio’s trust in Iago after a sequence of direct manipulations, which would cause Cassio to lose his job as an officer. Shakespeare inserts this dialogue to display how strong Iago’s manipulation skills are, as Iago just completely betrayed Cassio, depicting Iago’s false appearance as he is different in reality. Iago also manipulates Cassio indirectly as he appears to tell Othello the truth, when he says Cassio has been sleeping with the moors wife, while in reality that never happened. In doing so, Iago gains leverage on Cassio for the position of lieutenant as this angered Othello. Prior to promoting Iago to lieutenant, Othello out of anger declares “O, blood, blood, blood!” (III.iii.452). Othello has now turned to murder after these false accusations, as he wants Cassio and Desdemona dead. In the end Iago manipulates Cassio to near death, as he brutally wounds him and he also does the same thing with Roderigo.
From the beginning of the play, Roderigo appears to be one of Iago’s main manipulation targets, as Roderigo remains loyal to Iago.

After convincing Roderigo to sell his land, Iago remarks “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse”” (I.iii.365), saying he plans to manipulate Roderigo. Roderigo stays loyal to Iago, as Iago promised he could sleep with Desdemona. Iago uses Roderigo’s sexual desire to get money and favors out of Roderigo time after time. Roderigo eventually catches on to the lies, realizing “I have wasted myself out of my means” (IIII.ii.183-184), and threatens murder, before Iago manipulates him out of doing so. Finally Iago pulls off the ultimate manipulation with Roderigo as he positions him to kill Cassio, but in the end it is Iago who kills Roderigo. Othello approves of the killing, as Othello conspired with Iago for the murder after Iago had manipulated the moor time after

time.
Iago’s greatest manipulation occurs with Othello, as he takes advantage of all of his flaws. For example, time after time Iago manipulates Othello through his lies, as Iago appears to be someone different than who he actually is. Iago makes Othello believe that Cassio has slept with his precious wife Desdemona, but Iago has no ocular proof. After Iago goes on to make the moor believe so, Othello states “I am bound to thee for ever” (III.iii.215) demonstrating Othello’s trust in the fake Iago, which displays irony as Iago just distorted the truth. Iago goes on to get ocular proof of Desdemona’s alleged infidelity, with a handkerchief that Othello had gifted her. Iago gets the handkerchief and gives it to Othello saying he found it in Cassio’s possession, depicting Desdemona’s supposed disloyalty. After Iago’s lies, Othello states “I’ll tear her all to pieces” (III.iii.433).Through these deceits Iago has made Othello crazy. Even after the manipulation, Othello promotes Iago to lieutenant and says “Iago keeps his word” (IIIII.i.27), illustrating Othello’s trust in Iago. Iago overtime manipulates Othello into killing Desdemona, and eventually himself, as he has gone crazy. Iago accomplishes this through a series of lies and schemes with no real motive, but Iago finally becomes lieutenant before getting caught. Iago goes on to give no explanation of his strategies, as he accomplishes destroying the moor, his ultimate goal.
Within the tragedy of “Othello”, written by William Shakespeare, the reader watches Iago’s power-craving self. Iago decides to go with a near impossible plan of manipulation, to get the desired result. Throughout the play, Iago slowly manipulates all the characters, but specifically Michael Cassio, Roderigo, and Othello. Iago proves to be motiveless in his raid for power, as he screws over practically anyone, before becoming lieutenant. In the end Iago manipulates practically everyone to their death, as he influenced Othello to kill Desdemona, stabbed Roderigo, and made Othello crazy, as he kills himself. In the end, the literary genius, Shakespeare displays power causes corruptness, as Iago becomes an immoral human throughout his desire for power.