Lago The Villain Archetype In Othello

Lago perfectly fits into the villain archetype throughout Othello. We see examples of this on numerous occasions throughout the story. He is the “Puppet Master” of all of the conflicts throughout the plot. He orchestrates events that perfectly align with his motive for revenge. Just like the stereotype of villains all having one main motive and way of viewing life, so does Lago. Throughout the entire story, Lago proves this point on numerous occasions. So I will just list a few. Of course, all villains have a motive, and Lago is no exception. At the beginning of the book, Othello gives a promotion to Cassio instead of Lago. This singular decision prompts Lago to seek revenge against Othello. Due to the fact that Lago became overcome with anger

He uses this “superpower” for evil to cause chaos amongst the other characters. The audience sees an example of this manipulation when Lago says “Strangle her in bed, even the bed she hath contaminated” or when Othello says, “I think thou dost, and for I know thou’rt full of love and honesty” insinuating that he trusts Lagos character. Lago creates an abundance of drama throughout the story. It all starts when he brings the fact that Desdemona is getting married to Othello to her father Brabatino's attention. Since Brabatino does not approve, this creates a major conflict. And Lago is smart enough to stay behind the scenes without any detection. Lago is very well calculated. Every move he made was thought through and executed to perfection. Another example is when Lago got Cassio drunk and then instigated a fight between Cassio and Rodrigo. This altercation leads to Cassio losing his new

Through different manipulative tactics, Lago convinces Othello that Desdemona is being unfaithful to him. He does this by placing Desdemona's handkerchief on Cassio's person. When Othello sees this “evidence” he is convinced and publicly embarrasses Desdemona. To add to the point, Lago is the villain archetype if you have not been convinced already. Lago later makes moves to get Cassio killed. As if losing his job promotion wasn’t enough already. Luckily, Cassio is able to escape death at that time, but this all just goes to show the lengths that Lago will go to complete his agenda. Lago takes Cassio surviving the attack as an opportunity to continue this agenda by pinning the attack on Bianca. Towards the end of the story, everything starts to fall apart and unravel. And so does Lago. He kills Rodrigo and Othello kills Desdemona by suffocation. Even after she tries to plead her innocence by saying “Kill me tomorrow; let me live tonight”. It is not until the end that the truth is discovered. But the damage was done. Lago succeeded in completing this villainous