Mind control can be used to manipulate a person’s behavior through a psychological process, such as a process known as Classical Conditioning. Mind manipulation has been presented by villains throughout movies, novels, and even plays. The play Othello, written around 1603 by William Shakespeare, with the villain character Iago, is characterized as a jealous, hubris, sinister, crafty, and manipulative being. William Shakespeare has managed to write a tragic play where he used Iago’s malicious words to provide early Classical Conditioning, to cloud Othello’s mind of critical thoughts, turning him into a jealous zombie; this shows that Iago would go to any means necessary, whether it was murder or manipulation, to achieve his goal.
Iago’s main goal was to demote Cassio, a young man appointed by Othello to be second in command, by tricking Othello into believing that Cassio and Desdemona, Othello’s wife, were engaged in sexual activities. Iago became jealous of Othello’s promotion to Cassio, making him want to seek his revenge on Othello. Supposedly, due to a rumor about Othello and Iago’s wife, Emilia, sleeping together, Iago despises him and will seek revenge by lying about Cassio and Desdemona. Quoting Iago’s words, “...But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor. And it is thought abroad ‘twixt my sheets he has done my office. I know not if ‘t be true, but I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety...” (1.3.363-368), this emphasizes Iago’s jealousy and
Iago’s indignation arises from knowing that someone with no experience received the position. The bitterness is left unchecked and quickly turns into hate. Instead of going to Othello, he whined and pined over it and eventually he says, “...I hate the Moor” (1.3.369). His hatred toward Othello drives him to become deceptive and manipulative. Iago advises Cassio: “confess yourself freely to her; importune her to help you put you in your place again” (2.3.282-284). Although this seems to be sound advice, Iago plans to deceive Othello by leading him to believe that Cassio and Desdemona are in love. In an aside, Iago says, “I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear, / ...So I will turn her virtue into pitch, / And out of her own goodness make the net / That shall enmesh them all” (2.3.316,320-322). Through deception Iago aspires to bring Othello and Cassio to their knees and achieve the position he so desired. With the first step of his plan complete, Iago now has to manipulate Othello into action. In an aside Iago sneers, “O, you are well tuned now! / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music” (2.1.194-195). Essentially, Iago is going to manipulate Othello in such a way that Othello becomes a puppet acting based on Iago’s wishes. In Iago’s ideal world, he will make Othello love him more and hate Cassio:
Over the course of the play, Iago offers numerous reasons for him desiring revenge. The first motive is the loss of a promotion to Cassio. “’Tis the curse of service: preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation,” (I.i.33-35). Iago feels that Cassio was chosen over him because he is more likable instead of earning it like Iago felt he had. Bloom describes this anger in terms of religion. “His religion is war, and his god is Othello, and so his fury when Cassio is preferred to him is the fury of the priest or worshipper who has been found unworthy,” (Bloom). Iago feels that Othello must make amends for his rejection. The next reason he gives is the supposed infidelity of his wife. Iago says “And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets H’as done my office.” (I.iii.378-379).
Shakespeare is prominent in his use of recurring themes throughout his works, particularly those of love, death, and betrayal. All these themes are present in Othello. Most dominant, however, are manipulation and jealousy. Jealousy runs the characters’ lives in Othello from the beginning of the play, when Roderigo is jealous of Othello because he wishes to be with Desdemona, and to the end of the play, when Othello is furious with jealousy because he believes Cassio and Desdemona have been engaging in an affair, but manipulation the prominent action that fuels the jealousy within Othello. Some characters’ jealousy is fashioned by other characters. Iago is involved in much of this, creating lies and implementing confusing situations.
Iago’s next achievement in Shakespeare’s play Othello is to convince Othello that his wife is cheating on him. He wants to destroy their marriage because he believes Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia which is another motive as to why he hates Othello. Starting in Act One, Scene Three Iago wants to start “poisoning” Othello’s mind with thoughts of his wife having an affair with Cassio. He states in lines 385-387, “Let’s see. After some time, to abuse Othello’s ear that he is too familiar with his wife”. Iago is going to put the impression that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. Iago wants to put these thoughts into Othello’s head; therefore Othello can experience the same betrayal and heartbreak that he is experiencing. He believes Othello will trust his word because Cassio is good looking and a smooth talker. In Act Three, Scene Three Iago starts hinting to Othello that his lieutenant, Michael Cassio could be having an affair with Othello’s wife Desdemona. Iago tells Othello, “Look to
Iago’s revenge plan started because he wanted a higher position in the army. The position that Iago wanted was the one that Cassio had. So he knew the only way to get this was through the “easy prey” (spark notes) Othello. Iago saw Othello as an easy target because of his insecurities of marrying Desdemona and his trusting nature. Othello was insecure because he was a man
Fear of cuckoldry is widely known theme in medieval and Renaissance English literature. Fear of cuckoldry was also a widespread fear in English society during those eras. Men often treated their wives as possessions. Once men and women married, divorce was almost impossible, especially since it was almost impossible to prove that one had been cuckolded. If one were cuckolded and one’s wife had another man’s child, one might spend decades taking care of that child and passing on one’s money and belongings to that child without ever knowing that one had been deceived. Unmarried women are seen as their fathers ' property and the play 's two marriages are marked by jealousy and cruelty. Most
Othello speaks to Iago in Act Three of the play saying, “certain, men should be what they seem” (3.3.131). This excerpt foreshadow events in which Othello will begin to question the actions and morality of Cassio and Desdemona, all orchestrated by Iago’s scheming nature. This is a very important concept to showcase because Othello devoutly loves Desdemona and trusts Cassio until conniving language from Iago causes him to think otherwise. Drawing on Shakespeare’s source story by Cinthio and other outside sources, textual information can be gathered to explore major concerns of “Othello”. Throughout this essay, I will present textual evidence from multiple sources examining the central concerns of the play, which include identity and revenge.
serve god if the devil bid you” and he also says “the moor is now
Iago's need for revenge on Cassio and Othello could originate from the inadequacy he must of felt when Cassio was promoted, and finding out that his wife might be having affairs must have wounded his pride and bruised his ego greatly. All
In Othello every character has their own personalities that makes them the person they are. In Othello there are characters that show true grit, a fixed mindset, and a growth mindset. Each characters are different which makes the book even more interesting. True grit means to endure and push through to do something better no matter what it takes. An example of grit is studying for a long period of time for a test and enduring the amount of work that must be completed. The definition of mindset is the established set of attitude held by someone. There are two other types of mindset as well. There is growth mindset and fixed mindset. Growth mindset is when the person isn 't
At all points of one’s life, one has desires; what separates and defines a person is determined by how that person goes about dealing with those desires. Some believe in working honestly towards his or her aspirations and others in seizing it at any cost. Iago, the antagonist of the play Othello is one of those people who would do anything in order to get what he wishes. Because Othello names Cassio lieutenant instead of him, he begins to device a plan in vengeance to bring Othello and Cassio down, which ends up tragic for all of the major characters. Iago’s obsessive need for revenge stems from jealousy and ambition, and because he is a master manipulator, the plan goes extremely smooth for the majority of the play.
In William Shakespeare 's Othello, Iago 's character is perhaps the most appalling scalawag. Oxford 's Dictionary characterizes miscreant as an, "an evil individual; boss insidious character in a play or a story" (Oxford 740). Iago plays the antiquated of Othello, who is the general of the Venetian powers. As an old, Iago is to be an unwavering worker to Othello. In any case, Iago has developed intense and scornful and utilizes his gathered steadfastness as a wedge to bring about Othello 's end. He 's captivating for his most ghastly trademark; his articulate absence of persuading inspiration for his activities. He is additionally a man who is fit for a cool deception, nonsensical disdain, and numerous malicious demonstrations, which he can plot them effortlessly. As per Stopford A. Brooke, "it is a huge personality that had touched base by chance in the body of a non-authorized officer" (Brooke 444).
Iago’s intentions lie within his goal to replace Cassio as lieutenant as he complicates many relationships to the extreme, without showing his good qualities and proving himself to Othello as a strong and hard worker. Iago is more complex than what meets the eye, but he’s devious and manipulative towards the people around him; he contains a static personality and will not change because he is who he was meant to be causing mayhem.
Othello, a play that was written in 1604 by William Shakespeare, is an example of a type of story called a “tragedy.” Throughout the course of the work, Othello proves himself to be very easily misled, despite his heroic status. This causes him to lose his ability to make good judgments and decisions. Even though Othello had a reputation as a hero, he ends up being one of the most gullible characters in the play when he completely falls into the evil trap that Iago set for him. As the story unfolds Othello’s character evolves in an extremely tragic way as Iago manipulates him and leaves him to rot in his misery. Eventually, this leads to Othello’s suicide.
Writers have been responsible for providing wisdom and entertainment through their literature since the first known published work. However, for many centuries the writer has also been seen to have a diagnostic function, scrutinizing the ills of their society and portraying them for the world to see. William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world 's most distinguished dramatist. His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and a few other verses. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, past and present. One of the most famous examples of these plays is the tragedy of “Othello”, believed to have been written in approximately 1603. The work revolves around four central characters; Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; his new wife, Desdemona; his lieutenant, Cassio; and his trusted ensign, Iago. Throughout the play of “Othello”, William Shakespeare diagnoses and portrays two ills within his own society, which are undeniably still present in society today. Shakespeare portrays the issues of prejudice against race and prejudice against gender. In this essay I will discuss how, through the play of “Othello”, Shakespeare portrays these still current themes as well as how they were huge issues within the