Examples Of Greed In Othello

Iago presents himself to the world as a faithful and honest man. In fact other people speak of him as “honest Iago”. Beneath the surface of his identity that he portrays to the world is his manipulation through lies. He uses his lies to manipulate other people and desperately wants revenge on Othello. He hates Othello so passionately because he gave the position of lieutenant up to another person instead of him. I think it could also be because of jealousy. I think he’s jealous of Cassio and Othello because later on in the story after he finally becomes lieutenant he brings up another reason to seek revenge on Othello, which was rumors of Othello sleeping with his wife. Iago is good at using people’s weaknesses to manipulate people and persuade

In Iago's soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 3, Iago exclaims 'I hate the Moor'; he repeats this sentence many times during the first act of the play. The reasons for his hatred are vast, they could stem from racism, for Iago uses derogatory terms to describe Othello many times, ‘Barbary horse', ‘devil' and ‘old black ram'. It could also come from Iago's resentment that Cassio was promoted above him by Othello. One of the main

Iago also has a fixed mindset. His whole plan to destroy Othello started because Othello appointed Cassio lieutenant instead of him. He believes he is too good and too experienced to simply be Othello’s ensign, he believes he deserves to be lieutenant. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, author Carol Dweck says, “If you only have a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character - well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them.” Iago is basically trying to “prove” himself throughout the whole play. People with a fixed mindset feel that they’re stuck on whatever level of intelligence they’re born on. In Iago’s mind, he’s stuck on the level of being a lieutenant, and spends the entire play trying to prove that he deserves to be lieutenant over Cassio. He doesn’t accept the fact that he didn’t get the position and instead of trying harder to get a better position, he tries to destroy his competition.

However, different ideas can be inferred by his more personal asides, “I hate the Moor,/And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets/'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” (Shakespeare.I.III.429-433). One of the reasons for Iago’s evil doings is that he perceives that Othello has slept with his wife. With no real indication of this, Iago is left to stew in his hatred and jealousy. Saying that Othello has “’twixt [his] sheets/’Has done [his] office,” reveals that Iago believes Othello’s relationship with Emilia, exceeded a physical one (Shakespeare.I.III.430-431). Another plausible reason for Iago’s malicious activities is racism. Described as “the Moor,” Othello is segregated from the rest of the nobility throughout the story due to his race. The first indication of Iago’s racist thoughts is when he beckons Roderigo to call upon Barbantio and tell him about Desdemona and Othello. Interjecting, Iago yells to Barbantio, “Zounds, sir, you’re robbed. For shame, put on your/gown!/Your heart is burst. You have lost half your soul./Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise!/Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,/Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you./Arise, I say!” (Shakespeare.I.I.94-101). Declaring that Barbantio has been “robbed…for shame,” indicates that

Iago quickly started feeding Othello lies about Cassio and Desdemona being together when Iago did not get the position of Lieutenant. Othello starts calling Desdemona a whore and questioning if she is just with him (IV, ii, 94-99). Othello never asked Desdemona or talked to her about the allegations he just assumed what Iago said must be true. Othello starts getting mad without even knowing the truth.Othello didn’t once bring up where her handkerchief was, he only listened the the lies Iago told him up until the night he planned to kill her. He finally said to Desdemona “the handkerchief which I lored, and gave thee, thou gave to Cassio” (V, ii, 58-59). He had already made up his mind that Cassio and Desdemona needed to be killed. If he would have had reason and asked Desdemona about the allegations before tensions rose, she might not have been killed from Othello's anger. Desdemona was very in love with Othello but he was overly jealous and full of anger to even think reasonably to ask Desdemona about

Othello is a frank and straightforward, honorable people. He believed that life is good, and society is fair; he treat people with sincerity, and believed that he can be received with honor. He wholeheartedly loves Desdemona, his own honor and dignity of all their faith in the awful happy marriage. Yet just at this time Igon told him that Desdemona has affair with its own honorable lieutenant Cassio, he was overwhelmed by this sudden blow, psychology began to lose balance, Othello caught in the pain and contradiction, a moment that Desdemona is chastity, and the next minute

After publicly sharing their love and deep devotion for each other, Othello goes to prove his fixed mindset as he succumbs to the lies told by his trusted friend Iago that his wife Desdemona was cheating on him, which causes him to fall into the realm of self doubt. Throughout Act 3 scene 2 of the play, it is here where Desdemona vows to do what she can to convince Othello to appoint Cassio back to his position as lieutenant. Though Iago takes this opportunity to introduce the idea that Desdemona is cheating on Othello with Cassio which is the reason that she is so fixed on convincing him to have Cassio as his lieutenant once more. When left alone in his chambers to think of the astonishing news Othello remarks to himself, “ This fellow exceeding honesty,/And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit/Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,/Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,/I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind to prey at fortune. Haply for I am black/And have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers have, or for I am declined…” ( Act

As we move on to the fourth act, Othello still has control of himself. A conversation between Iago and Cassio is overheard by Othello. “Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber. O, I see that nose of yours, not not the dog I’ll throw it to.” Iago made this conversation a set-up, making it look like they are talking about Desdemona. Othello’s plan to kill Cassio no has reached a full 100 percent intent. “Lie with her, lie on her!/ We say lie on her, when they belie her./ Lie with her!/ That’s fulsome.” Said by Othello, full of rage once hears the news from Iago. The choices Othello will make will be from his acts of jealousy.

With this thought of revenge playing in his arsenal, he never got off task on his mastermind plan to play the downfall of Othello, to make him suffer. One can say Iago is extremely gritty and has a growth mindset in the aspect of accepting all opportunities as the moment to add to his master plan, learning different ways to manipulate everyone in his way, stacking all the cards in his favor. One can say he’s extremely gritty because of his devotion to making sure Othello pays for his ‘wrongdoing’. Iago throughout the novel focused on his goal without a ounce of doubt in any of his actions and actually caused what he wanted to happen to take place, which was the death of Othello. He also refuses to speak on his actions regarding his actions and why he has done them, sticking with the original plan. “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word”(Shakespeare ). He stays firm on his goal of getting revenge and if he ever gets caught, he won’t explain why, he’ll leave everything into a mystery. Iago shows his growth mindset when he learned everyone’s weakness and how to manipulate them into his plan. One example can be when Roderigo leaves the room and Iago brings his true feelings and

Shakespeare’s Othello begins with the encounter of Roderigo and Iago. On a street in Venice Roderigo confronts Iago about their agreement they have previously planned. Roderigo is so desperately in love with Desdemona, that he pays Iago to help him lure her away from Othello. In fact Roderigo has found out that Desdemona has married Othello, blaming Iago for this situation. As Roderigo complains to Iago he tells him: “Thou told’st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.”

Othello is a Moor, born in northern Africa. From the beginning of the play Iago voices a hatred for Othello rooted in his race. In Act I Scene I Iago refers to Othello as, “an old black ram,” (90), “…a Barbary horse…” (113), and speaks to the unnaturalness of the union between Desdemona and Othello saying, “…your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs” (116-17). These quotes are all derogatory terms, demeaning Othello and comparing him to an animal. Sixteenth century audiences would have seen this comparison to animals very offensive because at that time the chain of being was very important. The chain of being is a hierarchical order of creation. At the top are humans (reason), followed by animals (motion, sense), plants (growth), and stones (mere existence). Calling Othello a ram and a horse made him less than human in Elizabethan times, expressing Iago’s deep rooted hatred of Othello based on race. When referring to the two backed beast Iago reveals his belief that the marriage of Othello, a Moor, and Desdemona, a Venetian, is unnatural. Later in the play he also says, “Not to affect many proposed matches/ Of her own clime, complexion, and degree, / Whereto we see in all things nature tends-/ Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank, / Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural” (Act III Scene III, 245-49)

To begin, Iago’s encouragement of prejudice leads to Othello’s manifestation of darkness. For instance, when Iago unveils to Rodrigo that he has a plan to attain Desdemona’s affection for him, he in contrast dehumanizes Othello he reveals that “If I the Moor I would not be Iago. In following him I follow but myself; Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, but seeming so for my peculiar end. For when my outward action doth demonstrate” (I.i.57–65). This illustrates, Iago’s true nature that he holds prejudice and hatred for Othello by referring to him as a Moor, it proves that he only views him as substandard. Iago will pretend to serve him, but in reality he is only loyal to himself. This foreshadows that Iago will use negative connotations of race to manipulate Othello into thinking he is worthless. Thus, planting in Othello’s mind thoughts of adultery and hypocrisy. Later, resulting in the uprising of jealousy and darkness of Othello’s character. So Rodrigo, can obtain Desdemona’s love. Promotion of racial bias is also, evident when Iago tries to insinuate that Desdemona is unfaithful. He argues that “not to affect many proposed matches of her own clime, complexion, and degree, Where to we see in all things nature tends—Foh! One may smell in such a will most rank, Foul disproportions,

Iago has many reasons to hate Othello, including the fact that he had been passed over for a promotion, in which Othello had snatched the position, and he also suspects Othello had slept with Emilia. These reasons were given to the audience, as Iago, himself, reveals his reasons to Roderigo, “ I hate the Moor; and it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets 'has done my office. I know not if't be true; yet I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety.” (1.3.378-82). Iago is never turned back on his plan to ruin Othello and the people surrounding him, since he is always contemplating on how Othello doesn’t deserve his accolades, and how Iago is plotting revenge against him. This keeps Iago to consistently, and deliberately continue with his strategies, which keeps the audience empathetic for the rest of the story. Iago is also jealous of Othello’s ability to woo and lure Desdemona, “It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor ... She must change for youth. When she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice.” (1.3.340). However, Even if Iago had received the promotion; even if he had no suspicions or jealous feelings, he would still invent new motives for hating the Moor, as he is the devil of the story. Iago is not capable of performing good deeds, sustaining good relationships, or even

It then hit me that through Iago’s judgments Othello is “the Moor” and should therefore exemplify the common idea of a moor, which is not admiration, self-worth, and fortune; it is one of disconnectedness and dependency. When he says that “nothing can or shall content his soul/ Till he is evened with the Moor, wife for wife” (Act 2: Scene), he means that he is satisfied until Othello’s life is made equal with his involving feelings of inadequacy and jealousy, which are all qualities fitting to a “moor”. Throughout the play Iago repetitively uses derogatory remarks when speaking of Othello so to encourage certain people in the play to endure racism and confirm that it was the norm. Even so, some of Iago’s semantics reveal his own prejudices. For example, Iago only refers to Othello as a “Moor” with the exception of when he refers to Othello as the “black Othello” (Act 2: Scene 3). Iago hates Othello because he is “the Moor” yet does not symbolize the expected role of what is thought of to be a black man in these times. There is neither reason nor logic behind his hatred, but discrimination against one seldom has reason, for it is characteristically irrational thinking. Iago is a clear illustration of what racism is and will justify his irrational thoughts with anything, just as Iago contributes to Brabantio and Rodrigo’s reasoning behind their actions and Othello’s reasons for acting out on

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.