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Revenge as a theme in Literature
Comparing and contrasting characters in shakespeare
Revenge as a theme in Literature
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Lines 440-441: “ He hath a person and a smooth dispose/ To be suspected, framed to make women false.”
Q: What makes this passage important in terms of the rest of the play?
In these lines, Iago is saying that Cassio is a smooth specking and good-looking man, therefore, people like him would be expected to be the person to attract women. These lines show the great reputation Cassio has and people’s opinions and impressions for him. It is important in terms of the rest of the play because he is plotting that he is going to use Cassio’s charming appearance and personality as a tool to benefit his revenge, as well as his close relation with Desdemona to make Othello unhappy and jealous. Also, he is going to use these to get Cassio off his position that he desperately wanted,
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If ‘yes’, how would I paraphrase it? If ‘no’, what part do I understand? What words or phrases are preventing me from understanding it?
I do not understand the lines completely. I do understand that Iago is saying that people like Othello, who trust others so much are easier to be manipulated. However, I do not understand the meaning of “ As asses are”. What is Iago telling and expressing in these phrases and what is the connection it has with his plan of revenge or Othello’s personalities?
Q: How could I unlock the meaning of this line? What resources could I use to find meaning?
I can use the internet to search for the translation of the phrase that I do not understand in modern English. There are plenty of websites with spark notes of the play for me to refer to, such as sparknotes.com, they offered the translation of the play line by line in modern English.
Lines 446-447: “ I have’t, It is en gendered. Hell and night./ Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s sight.”
Q: What do I like about this line? Select a specific word, phrase, image, sound, use of punctuation, etc. Why does this line make me emotional? What do I like or dislike about
Implicitly targeting Othello’s doubts about marrying Desdemona and insecurities about her actions with infidelity, Iago eventually impacts Othello enough that the General himself confides in Iago about his own wife. Earlier in the play, ‘honest Iago’ needs to first gain Othello’s confidence and he does so by expressing his loyalty to Cassio, “I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth/ Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio”, while Othello is present in a conflict (2.3. 203-204). Then, later in the play Iago baits Othello by suggesting that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Immediately, Othello wants more information; however, Iago nervously responds with, “…vicious in my guess-/ As I confess…” and tries to calm Othello by saying, “My noble lord-” (3.3 46-47, 93). When voicing his devotion to Cassio, Iago immediately begins to play on his false reputation as ‘honest Iago’. He enables Othello, and his fellow characters, to think highly of him and to respect that even when his partner, Cassio, has not been following orders, Iago would even endure physical pain and have his “tongue cut from [his] mouth” and proves his locality (2.3. 203). This leads to when Iago responds to Othello’s queries, about
In this first scene we see Othello, a general of Venice, has made Cassio his new lieutenant. Iago feels he truly deserves his promotion as he says "I know my price, I am worth more than a place." "(l.i.12) Iago over here is confused why Othello has made such a stupid decision. Iago is a man with a tremendous ego who knows, sometimes overestimates, his worth. Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, understands Iago when Iago said that he is "affined to love the Moor. " (l.i.41-42)
--Let us look each other in the face. We are Hyperboreans--we know well enough how remote our place is. \"Neither by land nor by water will you find the road to the Hyperboreans\": even Pindar1,in his day, knew that much about us. Beyond the North, beyond the ice, beyond death--our life, our happiness...We have discovered that happiness; we know the way; we got our knowledge of it from thousands of years in the labyrinth. Who else has found it?--The man of today?--\"I don't know either the way out or the way in; I am whatever doesn't know either the way out or the way in\"--so sighs the man of today...This is the sort of modernity that made us ill,--we sickened on lazy peace, cowardly compromise, the whole virtuous dirtiness of the modern Yea and Nay. This tolerance and largeur of the heart that \"forgives\" everything because it \"understands\" everything is a sirocco to us.
One of the themes of the play is prejudice. The reader gets a taste of Iago’s prejudice against women and sexist ways when Desdemona and Cassio first arrive on Cyprus. Iago says to Desdemona “You are pictures out of door/ Bells in your parlors/ Wild-cats in your kitchens/ Saints in your injuries, devils being offended/ players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.” (2.1.109- 112). He thinks that all women have two sides to them; a pleasant public side and an irritating private side and he sees Desdemona as a lesser person simply because she is female. Iago looks down on Cassio because Cassio is “a great arithmetician … a Florentine … That never set a squadron in the field” (1.119,20,22). He is a mathematician, not an army man, which makes Iago feel that he is more qualified for the job of lieutenant. Othello is older, from Africa, and Iago often calls him “the Moor” (1.2.58) and “an old black ram” (1.1.88). Iago does not want to follow him as he tells Roderigo “I follow him to serve my turn upon him/ we cannot all be masters, nor all masters/ cannot be truly followed.” (1.1.42-44). By this, Iago is saying that he only follows Othello to take advantage of him and does not think he deserves to be followed. This prejudice drives Iago’s malicious actions through a yearning to be seen in the superior way the way he feels he deserves to be
Dialogue and Soliloquy in Understanding Iago Shakespeare’s Iago is a very sophisticated and unpredictable character. He is part vice and is a very deceitful and evil character. We see him as a character who tempts mankind into performing devilish conducts. This is why he is almost certainly known as inherently evil.
Iago is the manipulator behind Othello’s mistrust of Desdemona. The quote shows how Iago manipulates a seemingly innocent meeting between Desdemona and Cassio, making the meeting appear as though they were meeting for an affair. This is not what the meeting was in actuality. The meeting between Desdemona and Cassio involved Cassio asking Desdemona to plead his case for the job as Othello’s lieutenant, which Cassio held previously to the drunken argument and brawl in Act One of Othello. To put it differently, Iago’s main goal in the play Othello was to destroy the life of
He refers to Cassio’s goodness here and realizes that he lacks his gentlemanly traits. They are not quite of the same class and Iago resents that, for he knows that the promotion was not ...
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.
What he seems to argue is that ‘’At the outset Iago intends merely to gull Roderigo and undermine Cassio, but that the circumstance of Othello 's marriage unfortunately presents itself as a surer means to gain his revenge.’’ and ‘’he concludes that the most legitimate of those offered by Iago is Cassio 's appointment to the lieutenancy.’’ This is true on what he says because at some point in the play it is known that Cassio is appointed to lieutenancy in favour than Iago which might of made him have outraged and unforgivable towards Othello, making him only to seek revenge and torture Othello along his marriage. An example from Act 2, scene 1 is a soliloquy by Iago of him saying ‘’For that I do suspect the lusty moor
Jones, Eldred. "Othello- An Interpretation" Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994.
Iago's Soliloquies in William Shakespeare's Play Othello "Othello" is a tragedy which was written in 1622 by William Shakespeare, the title "Othello" is eponymous which means that a character gives its name to the title. Othello is not the main character, where as in "Macbeth" Macbeth was the main character. Right from the beginning Shakespeare is trying to hide the importance of Iago.
Iago is a powerful predator who exploits those around him by infecting their perceptions of truth with carefully chosen fallacy. His skill in finding the proverbial chinks in others' armor allows him to skillfully weave his machinations of destroying Othello into their minds and actions; by manipulating character's perceptions of Desdemona, Iago gains the leverage he needs to exploit each character. No one is impervious to Iago's seething purpose; even Othello falls prey to Iago's suggestions and insinuations about Desdemona. Iago's constant presence as the stager, as well as his ceaseless - but subtle - reinforcement of events through narration, allows him to be the pivotal force that directs Shakespeare's Othello.
...sio is in fact in love with Desdemona, and that Cassio is in fact doing dishonesty to Othello. Othello does get discouraged by this advice given by Iago, and eventually does confront Desdemona. The quote specifically displays how Iago can make Cassio seem evil to Othello. Iago persuades Othello into believing him, which creates a way for Iago to work around the truth. Iago completely changes the appearance of Cassio, therefore making Iago extremely intelligent and far superior.
Iago is jealous of cassio because he became Othello’s lieutenant. Iago is jealous because he felt that he was the one to get that position, because he believed that he deserved it, but did not receive what he wanted. Cassio has turned into a bit of a playboy and slept with women, possibly iagos wife. Here are a few quotes about Othello, iago says, “I do suspect a trusty moor hath leaped into my seat”. I do think this is saying, that iago is thinking that Othello has slept with his wife emilia. The next quote shows that, iago wants to do to Othello what he did to him. Revenge. “Till i've evened with him, wife for wife”. Iago shows his potential of jealousy to become so destructive. Iagos wife emilia says to Desdemona (Othello’s wife), “who would not make her husband old to make him a monarch?” Iago also starts to say things about cassio like, “ for I fear cassio with my night cap too.” Iago...
Iago is Othello’s ensign and wishes to be promoted to lieutenant. At first it seems as though Iago is motivated solely by the desire to become lieutenant, but as the story progresses the reader learns that Iago is far more complicated than that. After only the first act of the play the reader figures out that Iago is never who he seems to be. Throughout Act I, Iago puts on many façades and false pretenses, making him a very complex character with multiple motivations.