A Malevolent Villain

“Malice- a desire to harm others or to see others suffer; intent, without just cause or reason, to commit an unlawful act injurious to another or others” (“malice”). Malicious characters or groups play a central role in many literary works, like the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, O’Brien in 1984, and white society in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These characters threaten, attack, trick, and persecute the main character or another central character within their story. They add to the plot and tension of the work. Another malicious character is Iago, the villain in one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Othello. In this play Iago sets out to destroy Othello for multiple reasons, most of which are unsubstantiated imaginings. Iago’s role as a malicious villain is evidenced by his misogynist, racist, and manipulative behaviors.

The first evidence of Iago’s malicious villainy is his misogyny. Iago hates women and repeatedly debases sex. He is cruel to his wife and does not show her love. Henry L. Warnken discusses Iago’s hatred for women saying, “For him (Iago), mankind is corruptible; love is a mere illusion; women are inferior beings.” He does not think of women as fully human and does not believe in love. When Emilia comes to him saying she has a thing for him he automatically assumes she wants to have sex. He has no concept that would actually do something for him and help him because of love. He firmly believes that all love is lust. All of his references to sex are crude and vulgar. He debases it to an animalistic, bestial level, as he does to Othello. He kills Emilia because she chose Desdemona over him and threatened to reveal his evil plot of death and destruction to all. There is no reaso...

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Works Cited

A.C. Bradley. “Othello.” Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare’s Plays and Poetry. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Feb. 2012

Cowhig, Ruth. “Blacks in English Renaissance Drama and the Role of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’.” Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare’s Plays and Poetry. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Gale Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Feb. 2012

"Malice." Webster's II. 1995. Print.

Shakespeare, William. “Othello, The Moor of Venice.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Kennedy and Gioia. Longman: New York, 2002. 1469-1566.

Warnken, Henry L. “Iago as a Projection of Othello.” Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare’s Plays and Poetry. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Gale Power Search. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.