Oftentimes people are motivated by the feeling of hate and the desire for hate. In Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago is a sSoldier who is furious due to not being promoted. He has been loyal to Othello and has experience, yet Othello still promotes Cassio a man who is less qualified for the job. There are also rumors that Othello and also slept with his wife. This all motivates Iago to seek revenge and ruin Othello's reputation. He plans on making Othello believe his wife has also cheated on him. Iago's villainy has the greatest impact on the story since Iago causes others’ deaths, manipulates others, and ruins others reputations, revealing how people abuse others weaknesses especially when jealousy is involved.
Iago manipulates others through theft and giving
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He uses Desdemona to cause the emotion since she is the person he loves the most. He uses her personal items to convince Othello she has slept with another man. For example, Iago requests his wife to steal Desdemona’s the handkerchief. Emilia being an obedient wife does so, informing him that she has obtained the handkerchief “That the Moor first gave Desdemona,/ that which so often you bid me to steal” (3.3.33-334). Iago stealing the handkerchief gives him the ability to provide Othello with ocular proof of Desdemona's unfaithfulness. After obtaining the handkerchief Iago places it in Cassio's house, furthemore ruining his reputation with Othello. It decreases his chances of being reinstated as lieutenant and ensures Iago will receive and keep the promotion. Othello is blinded by love becoming easily influenced, which Iago is able to abuse in order to carry out his plan for revenge. Iagos action lead to Othello's downfall as he cannot control his jealousy after seeing the visual proof. Iago's actions of stealing as well as using others riches cause him to have the greatest impact on the story. The other way
He then tells Othello to ask for the handkerchief and if she doesn’t produce it, then she must be cheating on him. Iago also manipulates the undeserving devotion of Emilia. We learn at the end of the play that Iago “begg’d me to steal it” from Emilia. Like Desdemona’s good nature, Iago exploits his own wife for his malicious revenge.
Iago first reveals his cunning and unscrupulous behavior in his encounter with Rodrigo. Iago easily controls Rodrigo and he is very aware of his power over him. He plans to use his influence over him for his own good. He shows this by saying "Thus do I ever make my fool my purse; For I mine own gained knowledge should profane If I would time expend with such a snipe". We learn that Iago has a secret hatred for both Othello and Cassio. Iago says he hates Othello because he has denied Iago a promotion and for Cassio because he now occupies Iago's desired position of lieutenant. His motive is to seek revenge upon both these characters. Rodrigo has a shared hatred for Othello for his own and when he suggests he would not serve him, Iago reveilles his scheming plan for Othello by saying to him "O, sir, content you. I will follow him to serve my turn upon him." By saying this Iago shows that he plans to cleverly trick Othello of being loyal to him and then eventually use him for his own ends. In his first attempt to bring down Othello, he and Rodrigo tell Brabantio that Othello has kidnapped his daughter Desdemona. This is a dishonorable act as this is definitely a lie and told to Desdemona's father only to anger him towards Othello. Brabantio is also a senator and has the power to dismiss Othello from hi...
For Iago, deception, manipulating, and killing are second nature. It doesn’t occur to him that he will be caught and he doesn’t have any conscience about what he has done. These characteristics show that Iago is self-absorbed and out for himself. He is also greedy and jealous and plots to make everyone around him unhappy, while seeking position and honor. High position and honor starts his hatred of Othello. Iago sees Othello as being beneath him because of his race, but having all the glory and honor that he covets. The final straw, Cassio being made lieutenant over him, makes him take action and plot his revenge.
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
Iago in William Shakespear’s play “Othello” offers a precise explanation; Iago is a hateful, havoc seeking manipulator who holds several motives behind destroying several lives. From the beginning of the play, the reader is captivated by Iago’s character of a villain. In the beginning of the play it is revealed to the reader through the conversation between Iago and Rodriguez that Iago loathes Othello because he was not assigned the position of Lieutenant. However, it seems as the story progresses, more factors come into play regarding his hate towards Othello. He reveals another motive in a soliloquy; that he despises Othello because he slept with his wife. Furthermore, Iago 's hate towards Othello could also be attributed to Othello 's African
Iago plants the handkerchief on Cassio. Convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity, Othello smothers his beloved wife in their marriage bed. Emilia then proves Iago’s guilt and Desdemona’s innocence to Othello. Othello stabs Iago, who is under arrest, but fails to kill him and commits suicide.
Continuing Act three, Scene three, Othello feels the beginning of a headache. Desdemona offers Othello a handkerchief to ease the pain upon Othello’s forehead. The handkerchief is a gift from Othello to Desdemona as a symbol of the love shared by Othello and Desdemona. In Othello’s pain the handkerchief falls from Othello’s hand and Emilia steals the handkerchief. Iago uses the characters of the play as pawns, including wife Emilia. Jealousy is the fuel and the handkerchief is the spark. With the handkerchief in Iago’s possession, Iago can continue to spin the web of lies and deceit. Iago plans to leave the handkerchief in Cassio’s lodgings to further support the suspicion of Desdemona’s infidelity.
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss. Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er. Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves” (3.3.163-168). In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is the common theme that becomes Othello’s undoing. Through text in the play, the audience can notice Othello slowly begin to become crazed through his speech.
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
As Othello is seen being manipulated by mere scandal, his path to betrayal has just begun. In the beginning, Iago’s determination to become a lieutenant drove him to deceive Othello in order to prove Othello’s wrongdoing for not choosing him—resulting in the fall of Othello and his love ones. In Act Ⅳ, scene ⅰ, Iago keeps Othello focused on the disloyalty of Desdemona, in which made Othello get mad by the idea of his wife with another man. The constant support of
Iago intends to orchestrate the demise of Cassio and Othello. On the surface, winning a promotion was the catalyst for Iago’s rage but bringing down only Cassio does not satisfy his bloodthirsty rage. Although Iago is cunning and ruthless in his pursuit to ruin Othello, the plot spins out of his control and only gains traction when his wife, Emilia unknowingly helps him. At this point Iago is poised to fail but the possession of Desdemona’s handkerchief provides a key piece of “ocular proof (Shakespeare)” that Othello requires to be convinced of Desdemona’s infidelity. Iago loses control of the situation. His stated purpose is to suppl...
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).
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.
Each point is explored further into Iago’s manipulation schemes and will analyze the nature of evil portrayed throughout the play. 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's own satisfaction; Iago, unquestionably, fits the description. Othello represented these traits through his character, Iago, as he reveals his true nature of evil by diminishing people's 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).
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.