Iago's Manipulative Nature in Othello
Iago's manipulative nature has a profound effect on the decisions made by other characters in Shakespeare's ‘Othello’. Through his relations with those around him Shakespear characterizes him as a man full of malice, vengeance and dishonesty that is wholly inspired by jealousy. Furthermore it would appear that Iago has an exceptional ability to scheme, a talent which he uses to snake his way into the lives of others and exploit them through their weaknesses. Whether he does this for profit or for pleasure is a separate issue.
Throughout the course of the play, Iago crosses the path of each major character we encounter. Though his effect varies according to characters, he is a presence in the life of each. Rodrigo, Othello and Desdemona who each allow Iago to demonstrate his capacity for manipulation.
Using Rodrigo as a tool, Iago discovers that Othello’s passion for Desdemona to also be his weakness and eventual downfall. Latching on to this notion Iago’s uses it to his advantage. Rodrigo is a mere pawn in Iago's master plan with him being used as a back up, almost like an unknowing sidekick, winning him over by providing him with false confidence regarding Desdemona.
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...: Penguin, 1991.
Campbell, Lily B. Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes. New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1970.
Kermode, Frank. “Othello, the Moor of Venice.” The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.
Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. Ed. Alfred Harbab. Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1970.
Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.
In Othello, Iago is Shakespeare’s most malicious character and serves as a vehicle to these two themes. Iago despises Othello; he has a strong will to destroy Othello’s life, yet the motive behind his plan goes unexplained. Iago is a great manipulator of the tongue and lies to everyone in order to advance his plan; however, every character in the play considers Iago an honest character, and Othello even associates Iago with light and eyesight. Othello continuously asks Iago to explain or make something clearer. Until the very end, Iago appears to be honest and helpful to the other characters, but underneath this seemingly harmless façade, Iago is a demon with the strongest will; he will stop at nothing until he ruins Othello’s life. Iago uses a positive appearance to enact his
manipulates people about Othello and his wife Desdemona. Iago starts manipulating people by hinting that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, and so in Act 3 scene 3 Iago puts his plans into action. starts manipulating people. Iago’s manipulation of Othello is admirable. Iago starts off very subtle.
Have you ever met a devil who does evil for his own sake? Iago in William Shakespeare's Othello could seem like he has good motives, but I feel that he uses them as his excuses. The first thing that I did was uncovered Iago's motives. Iago is the most controversial character in Othello. He is able to keep his true thoughts and motives from everyone. Are his motives only excuses for his actions? Iago pretends to have so many motives that they seem more like excuses. Iago then uses these excuses to justify his actions, which are pure evil. I also feel that Iago has motives and actions that cause his actions. Does Iago have many different excuses, or does he only have one? This paper will prove that Iago has one clear motive and reason for his madness. Iago is not looking for justification that causes him to act the way he does. There is much more though to Iago. He is not a man of only excuses, he has goals with his motives, which causes him to act the way he does.
...n the end of the play. Iago is not really evil or the vice character he is the misunderstood and wonderful character who can only be seen through a certain lens before it all goes back to black and white and good and evil fights one another for the main stage again. Shakespeare pulled many themes into this story but in all truth I believe that Iago is true main character, not Othello or Cassio, but Iago with all of his problems and vices, he is the truest expression of being human.
Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.
Iago, manipulative and complicated depicts the villain in the play Othello. He sucks the resources out of the characters in a non literal sense planting seeds in their mind allowing them grow by using lies and deceptions. Throughout the play he gradually gains more power through the cultivating of ideas in the characters minds within the play using what he has planted and going off that. Although, Iago didn’t plan his actions in a personal planner or a step by step table he did structure a strategic sketch that formulated into a brilliant scheme.
Iago takes on many different persona’s to enact his plan of revenge upon Othello. He plays the friend, a trustworthy and credible source of information for Othello in his feat of drama with his innocent wife, Desdemona. He also plays the wingman for Roderigo who is madly in love with Desdemona, encouraging him to make advances towards her to woo Desdemona away from Othello. Iago even persuades Roderigo to kill Cassio with his lies about Cassio and Desdemona’s affair. “...you may take him at your pleasure: I will be near to second your attempt, and he shall fall between us.” Iago promises to assist Roderigo in the murder of Cassio and he will be rewarded with Desdemona’s love (Navigators.) Iago’s true persona, though, is a heartless, woman-hating villain who would go to great lengths to get revenge against Othello for preferring Cassio over him for the military promotion.
Shakespeare, William, and Kim F. Hall. Othello, the Moor of Venice: Texts and Contexts. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. Print.
Stern, Fred. “Robert Frost: One Acquainted with the Night.” World & I, vol. 28, no.3, Mar 2013, p. 2 EBSCO/host, proxy.campbell.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pw&AN=87555602&site=pov-live.
Death can be a complicated issue for many people. However, for Dickinson it seemed to consume her, and therefore is evident several times within her poetry. A clear example of this is in her poem 280 when she writes, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,/ And Mourners to and fro/ Kept treading-treading-till it seemed/ That Sense was breaking through-” (Dickinson 176). The whole poem goes on referring to what I believe her to be talking about, is her own funeral. Reading only that poem alone would make Dickinson seem to be depressed, but I think it is more that she is scared senseless about her death. In the end of the poem she writes, “And the a Plank in Reason, broke,/ And I dropped down, and down-/ And hit a World, at every plunge,/ And finished knowing-then-” (Dickinson 176). Dickinson seems to be afraid of what will happen after death, and that when the end comes she expects it to be a horrible ending to what could have been a great life.
Emily Dickinson is known for the common theme of death in her writings. She uses various metaphors in her poems to demonstrate this theme of death. In her poems, “I Cannot Live With You,” “ My Life Had Stood A Loaded Gun,” and “Because I Could Not Stop For Death.” Dickinson shows the theme of death as well as some other themes that can also point to death. In this way these poems, like all of her work, are similar yet different. They are similar in the way that she writes about death but they are also different because she describes death differently in each one. Dickinson uses many metaphors but sticks to the common themes of death and love. Growing up in Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson is thought of by her father to be a happy and energetic
Man must come out of his puny self, which is a jar, and become a well, which is a form of awakened consciousness, in order to reach the dimension of the sea which is his real self, his freedom. (41).
Iago uses his strategically apt abilities to come up with a very intelligent system that will eventually destroy Othello. After Iago and Rodrigo find out about Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, Iago manipulates Rodrigo into making him angry, because Rodrigo has feelings for Desdemona. Iago and Roderigo go to Brabantio’s abode to enrage him by telling him about Othello and Desdemona: “Call up her ...
Kermode, Frank. “Othello, the Moor of Venice.” The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.
Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco, California on March 26 of 1974 and died in Boston, Massachusetts on January 29 of 1963. Though he did not truly start publishing poems until age thirty-nine, Frost obtained four Pulitzer prizes in his writing career and was deemed one of the greatest twentieth century poets. His pastoral writing and skilled use of meter and rhythm has captured the attention of reader’s and critics for decades (Academic American, 345). Frost was very fond of nature and the beauty of things around him and illustrated this in many of his poems. A reviewer stated that Frost was “always occupied with the complicated task of simply being sincere” (Faggen, I). This statement describes the writer well in the sense that Frost’s works are very full of emotion. His use of the English language and the fact that he often seemed to be holding a little something back in his writing has made him one of the most celebrated American writers ever.