Iago: The Living Janus

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Recommended: Character analysis of Iago

There are many people that are considered sociopaths in the world, many of which hold high ranks in our society; amongst those many people you could find presidents and CEO's of companies, all willing to do whatever it takes to step on all kinds of people to get to the top of the social classes. If the definition of a sociopath is someone with an emotional and behavior disorder, clear perception of reality save for the person's social and moral obligations and often by the pursuit of immediate gratification in criminal acts or sexual perversion then Iago fits the description perfectly. Iago of all people wields the power of manipulation like no other man in Othello; he has a complete lack of empathy, is aggressive and he is a master deceiver.
To begin with, Iago in the play has a complete lack of empathy towards his peers and general surrounding; although Iago seems to care about his friends, most sociopaths are liked because of their charm and high charisma but they do not care about others. The problem with the Iago's lack of empathy is that he is the reason there are conflicts in the whole play. The life of Othello and Desdemona as well as Cassio and Roderigo would be without problems if it were not for Iago. Since the beginning of the play Iago explains his hatred for Othello for making Cassio lieutenant and he would go to far lengths to take his rightful position just as an average sociopath of our time would. Iago demonstrates no empathy in the acts that he commits towards everyone in the play; he pulls off such acts by following the footsteps of his preferred god, Janus. Janus is the two faced god in which Iago praises; Iago establishes this connection by seeming to be someone he is not. Iago in the play is known as Hones...

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...ression was very present. This continues right after he fails to kill Cassio. Iago proceeds to kill Roderigo; he does not need any evidence to float around and gets rid of him like he knew nothing of him. Even though Roderigo thought that Iago was his friend and later figured out that Iago was playing him, Iago continued to persuade and him manipulate his mind into believing he is there to help but Iago's true nature is very evil; because not only did he use Roderigo and play with his emotions to create a human wallet, he also got rid of him very quickly as soon as he became a liability and useless. Real sociopaths use people to their advantage and step on them after they are of no use to them; Iago had done this not only to Roderigo but anyone who came close to being a threat such as his own wife, solid proof of the real person under the layer of skin that is Iago.

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