Shakespeare is conspicuous in using the same few themes and tones in all of his works. Love, betrayal, mortality, sickness, and many more are exemplified in Shakespeare’s plays. He notoriously uses theses themes to draw the attention of the audience to feel the same pain, happiness, or mourning of the characters in that particular play. However, Shakespeare’s most reoccurring theme is jealously. Shakespeare’s play Othello exemplifies this theme. From the start of the play, Roderigo is spiteful of Othello because he desires to be with Othello’s wife, Desdemona. In addition, towards the end of the play, Othello is raging with jealousy and hatred because Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been unfaithful. In the play, Iago is the main source …show more content…
Iago says to Othello, “I hear Cassio say, ‘Sweet Desdemona...let us hide our loves!’” and “Such a handkerchief I am sure it was your wife’s –did I today see Cassio wipe his beard with” (3. 3. 416-417, 434-436). The reader sees Othello rage and shout out, “I’ll tear her all to pieces!” (3.3.428). At this point, the reader is able to see the devilish brilliance of Iago. To Iago his work is complete and now he just has to easily manipulate the other characters into believing the same thing that Othello believed. Othello trusts in Iago and turns his back on Cassio, promoting Iago to the new lieutenant position. Iago’s acts of persuasion are finished at this point (Beier 45). Although the motives for Iago’s psychological cruelty are not quite clear, they are effective. He was mad at Othello for not promoting him, and jealous of Cassio for taking that position. However, his objective is not to become lieutenant nor rage on Othello. He wants all of the characters of the story to feel what he is feeling (Cefalu). Iago’s desire to be lieutenant might be his drive, but he ultimately wants to completely obliterate Othello, which he dramatically does with his manipulation
The play, Othello is one of the most famous tragedies composed by William Shakespeare during the Renaissance period. It powerfully portrays a world where the acts of evil ultimately vanquishes fidelity, nobility and integrity. The central themes jealousy and manipulation embodies the foretold tragedies and the downfall tragedies of the characters due to one’s insecurities. Through the use of literary techniques and figurative language, Shakespeare has effectively explored the themes of jealousy and manipulation.
For Iago, deception, manipulating, and killing are second nature. It doesn’t occur to him that he will be caught and he doesn’t have any conscience about what he has done. These characteristics show that Iago is self-absorbed and out for himself. He is also greedy and jealous and plots to make everyone around him unhappy, while seeking position and honor. High position and honor starts his hatred of Othello. Iago sees Othello as being beneath him because of his race, but having all the glory and honor that he covets. The final straw, Cassio being made lieutenant over him, makes him take action and plot his revenge.
...rom this time forth I will never speak a word.” (V.ii.303-304) By silencing himself, Iago is also proving to Othello that perhaps he is not the great pious hero that everyone believes him to be. Othello took an ambiguous piece of information and spun this great fantasy out of it, convincing himself that Desdemona was sleeping with Cassio. Rather than questioning Desdemona, Othello believed only a small rumor. Othello’s fall into Iago’s trap can only be blamed on Othello for blindly following such an ambiguous statement; “I told him what I thought and told no more/ Then what he found himself was apt and true” (V.ii.187-188). Whether or not Iago hoped to gain anything from his actions is still questionable. However, Iago was successful in destroying Othello, emotionally and finally physically, achieving his objective of bringing justice to himself, the victim.
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 the play Othello, there are many jealous and selfish characters. Each of the characters at one point or another let their jealousy take over. It seems like they all have these plots and plans on how to hurt another character in the play either physically or emotionally, as an act of selfishness, so that they can feel better about themselves. One main character who seems extremely jealous in this play is Iago. Infact, probably the most jealous. Many bad things happen because of Iago. The first bad thing that Iago did, was tell Barbantio (Desdamona's father) that Desdemona has married Othello, the Moore. Iago was mad at Othello, because Cassio had made Othello a higher position and not Iago. Iago thought that he was the one who qualified for the position as general, not Othello. Iago was jealous because of this, so he decided to tell Barbantio about Desdemona and Othello. This was bad, because Barbantio did not know yet, and something like that should have been said by his own daughter, not someone who was not part of the family. The way Iago went about telling him was also bad. He called to his house in the middle of the night. He yelled it to Barbantio from downstairs into his window in a rude manner. " quote from Othello here." He wanted Barbantio to be upset about what had happened, and most of all, he wanted Barbantio to be mad at Othello and do something bad to him.
Iago is a antagonist in Othello and he is a gritty person . He is always trying to get what he wants by manipulating people. Iago kept trying to get Othello believe that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio and he fell for it . For instance , “ O beware , my lord , of jealousy; It is the greened-eyed monster which dock moth the meat it feeds on” ( 3.3.163.2-165) . In this scene he is keep on raising Othello’s suspicions about Desdemona , He is warning Othello to beware of Desdemona “affair” . Part of the reason that Iago is gritty is that he doesn't actually have a motive . He does thing out of spite , pure evilness , and pure satisfaction . Throughout the play Iago continues to manipulate others so they can do his “dirty” work for him.
The character of Iago, from Othello, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, is one of the most despicable villains in all of Shakespearean literature. Iago seeks to exact revenge on his general, Othello, after he is passed for the position of lieutenant, by a much younger and less-experienced soldier, Cassio. Iago uses manipulation as his tool for revenge, and is very successful in ruining the lives of the two men. While the audience is aware of Iago’s deception and use of cunning, the characters are oblivious to his genuine motives. Through his love of power, ability to manipulate others, and his self-destructive lust for revenge, Iago betrays all who are close to him and gradually entangles himself within
Iago is one of the most complex characters in William Shakespeare’s Othello. To most of the characters, he is “Honest Iago” (Shakespeare, 5.2.73). however, the audience knows that Iago is the furthest thing from honest. Iago is a devil bent on destroying the lives of everyone around him. At the beginning of the play, the audience learns that Iago is determined to ruin Othello’s marriage to Desdemona. He has appointed a new lieutenant, Michael Cassio. This angers Iago because he feels that he has much more military experience and should be the lieutenant. Iago has also heard rumours that both Othello and Cassio have slept with his wife Emilia. He concocts a malicious plan to ruin the lives of all who have wronged him, and consequently establishing
Iago's Motivation in Shakespeare's Othello The actions of Iago in the William Shakespeare play Othello were unanimously the actions of a man with little remorse or compassion toward the parties involved. There have been many debates over the years as to what drove a man to take such actions upon the people close to him, some believe it was the jealousy he felt towards Cassio after he was given a military rank which Iago was looked over for, other readers have felt that Iago was insane and didn't fully realize his actions or the consequences of them. There is a reason that is far more believable given the path Iago followed during the play; Iago was a person who gained pleasure from the pain and emotional stress of others, although displaying
In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello, Iago demonstrates a mastery of manipulation over people who had previously trusted and confided in him. His sudden turn from Othello’s loyal ensign to rage-filled villain seems indicative of a man who can no longer accept his position in life. Iago’s plotting of Othello’s demise starts as idle talk of a disgruntled 28 year-old career military man passed over for promotion. Iago believes that such a promotion may never come after Othello rejects his candidacy and makes it clear that he did not believe him suitable. He sees Othello is only concerned with personal and political gain with his choice of Cassio as lieutenant. When Iago teams with love-scorned and desperate Roderigo, he begins to construct Othello’s downfall. Iago is declaring an all-out covert war on Othello, Cassio, and anyone else who gets in his way. In Iago’s first speech in Act I Scene II, he proclaims hatred for Othello and lays out his plan for seeking vengeance. “After some time, to abuse Othello’s ears that he is too familiar with his wife (Shakespeare 1473).”
In Othello, Iago presents two different motives behind his hatred of Othello. The first motive that Iago uses is that, he was passed over for a promotion, and that the job he deserves was given to Cassio. Cassio was someone who had never seen the battlefield. To Iago this is a complete slap in the face. Two scenes later Iago presents another reason for his hatred for Othello. Rumors have spread around that Othello and Emilia have slept together. Whether or not this is true, Iago sees this as enough reason to get his revenge. As he sets out to destroy more than Cassio throughout the play, Iago was able to plant seeds of doubt, insecurities, and lies. He put this into action with all the supporting characters around him to cause Othello to believe that his wife was in fact having an affair with Cassio, and that was the furthest thing from the truth. He is a master manipulator because he was able to plant these ideas into the other characters heads, and he was able to have other characters around him carry out the actions that nurtured these lies into perceived...
The critic Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, can be used to exemplify this quote. One of the themes that Shakespeare discusses in Othello is: the effect jealousy has on people. Several of the characters become jealous over the course of the tragedy. Brabantio became jealous because Desdemona fell in love and married Othello. Roderigo became jealous because Desdemona didn’t fall in love with him. Bianca became jealous because she thought that Cassio was cheating on her with another woman. Othello became jealous because he thought Desdemona was cheating on him with Cassio. Iago became jealous because Othello gave Cassio the position of lieutenant. These characters’
Iago has been excellent at saying the what is needed to get to people, he misleads them to get a reaction he wants out of them. He is clever with his words to avoid confrontation that can easily happen. “Othello 's confusion is the human experience of language. In other words, language itself, not the outside world, determines meaning” (Christofides 2). Iago uses his words against Othello to get him to do Iago’s doings. Iago has an eloquence with
The role of jealousy, love and betrayal play a major role in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. The entire play is based on the human interactions of the characters as related to Othello and Desdemona. The characters’ personalities, their social status, and their relationships to each other control the story line and their fate in the play. Othello is portrayed early in the play as an outsider with animalistic characteristics by Iago and Roderigo because of jealousy. “Your heart is burst; and have lost half of your soul/Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”.(531) Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, accuses Othello of using witch craft on his daughter. “If she in chains of magic were not bound/ Whether a maid so tender, fair, and happy/ So opposite to marriage that she shunned…” (535) This point is important because Othello must defend himself not only to Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, but to the entire Venetian Senate. “And till she come, as truly as to heaven,/ I do confess the vices of my blood./ So justly to your grave ears I’ll present/ How I did thrive in this fair lady’s love, / And she in mine.” (539) Othello proves himself to be an intellectual hero early in the play. He has worked hard to gain respectability and power, but because he has a different background, is from another country, is dark-skinned and is older than Desdemona, he becomes jealous very quickly of Cassio. Cassio is from the same social class, is compatible with Desdemona and is a young handsome man. Iago has also convinced Cassio to seek favor with Desdemo...
William Shakespeare’s Othello is a play about the downfall of the Moor of Venice induced by evil villain Iago. The characters are put into focus by their moral virtue, all except Iago because he is a Vice. The English Oxford Dictionary defines Vice as immoral or wicked behavior (OED). The motive of being passed over for a promotion is not enough to pin the cause of Iago’s wickedness. It is Othello who needs to be scrutinized, in terms of passion. Leo Africanus describes the Moor as honest, trusting, but jealous and given to passionate vengeful rage when wronged. (Vitkus, 161) This is extremely evident in Shakespeare’s play. Othello causes his own downfall being blinded by jealously. William Shakespeare’s use of jealousy and deception are partnered with the themes of appearance versus reality. Othello’s greatest conquest in this play is not Iago but his own vice, Jealousy.