Iago, Man’s Animal Appetites, and the Great Chain of Being in Shakespeare’s Othello

In Shakespeare’s Othello he is the grand architect, the puppeteer even, who manipulates the players and the action— but above all he is one of fiction’s favorite and most perplexing sinners: Iago. In a script we are given essentially nothing but words, but words can be a very revealing judge of character. Thus through Iago’s language, which is ripe with profanity, sensuality and above all animal imagery, Shakespeare has left us clues about the nature of the enigma that is one of his most striking villains. To fully comprehend Iago, however, we must also examine one of the most potent beliefs of the Elizabethan era: The Great Chain of Being. This belief stated that every thing in the universe held a rank in a great hierarchy in which God ruled supreme. Minerals had the lowest rank, then plants, followed by animals, humans, angels and finally the Divine Ruler. This Ladder of Life can be found at the heart of many Medieval and Elizabethan works, and it is crucial to understanding Iago’s animalistic language. Iago’s animal metaphors are one of his key tools in awakening the baser passions of those he manipulates, they are hints that expose to us Iago’s ranking as the villain of the piece and they are windows into Iago’s character, revealing his internal struggle between human reason and primal appetite.

Iago’s animal imagery is one of the major devices he uses to control his victims, as it helps him call out their rasher, more impulsive and more violent sides. In Othello, Iago commands the action indirectly, using others as puppets to do his will. He can make pawns of the other characters because he knows that men are weak when consumed by envy, lust and rage, and are prone to behaving rashly. According to Elizabethans, man, who st...

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...s an animal. Iago’s animalistic descriptions make his deceptions meaningless and bare his actual nature: that of one who has abandoned himself to his animal appetites.

Through his animalistic, crude and sensual speech, and by delving into the Elizabethan philosophy of the Great Chain of being, we can indeed divine some of the mysteries of this bewitching and elusive sinner. We can conclude that his beast-filled language is an instrument he uses to manipulate others, that it is an indicator of his rank as the tragedy’s villain and that it offers us a glimpse into his character, showing us his inner weakness in face of his animal passions. Still, just as Iago’s lips remained sealed when Othello demanded what had spurred him to commit his vile deeds, this trickster who has ever lured us and thwarted our understanding will continue to closely guard many of his secrets.