How Does Iago Use Language In Othello

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over the play’s course. It appears to all start off with jealousy over “a Florentine” (1.1.19) who had “never set a squadron in the field” (1.1.21) being chosen for Othello’s new lieutenant over Iago. However, jealousy over this appears not to be his only motive as he makes claims of Othello sleeping with his wife (“he’s done my office” 1.3.376) and repeatedly uses derogatorily racist terms (“Barbary horse” 1.1.111) to seemingly add to his cause. Regardless of whatever his motives are, Iago uses language and his ability to fashion alternative truths to allow him to achieve his desires. The whole plot, more or less, is derived around the “odious damned lie[s]” (5.2.178) he which he concocts and tells, and yet he is though of as “most honest” (2.3.6). The language others use to describe him (“O brave Iago, honest and just” 5.1.32) indicates the success of his fashioning, as does the tragic end brought about by his lies, yet his final description is that of a “hellish villain” (5.2.367). Is his error in his fashioning of the self, or is it something more. Fred West (South Atlantic Bulle...

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