Characters
“ I am not what I am” Act 1 Sc 1 pg 11. Iago he isn’t what he seems to be to Othello and the other characters. Throughout the play Iago is seen as a honest man by many characters and especially to Othello. He’s seen as a dark and manipulative man during the play and especially to Othello.
Relationships
Iago’s has a wife named Emilia and she knows how Iago actually behaves. Emilia knows how he’s manipulative but was shocked for what he had done with Othello. She did not expect her husband to manipulate Othello and drove him to murder. Iago had no remorse for killing her because she was a complication for his plan.
Conflicts
Iago conflicts are considered to be external and internal within the play. External conflicts are due to his hardship feeling for vengeance towards Othello. Iago also may have a vendetta towards Othello because he thinks Othello may have slept with Emilia. Internally he is aware and cautious in how he needs to execute his plan towards Othello. Manipulation is key throughout the play for him because that’s the basis of it.
Presonality
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The play is a tragedy which is caused by his manipulation towards Othello and his reaction. He had manipulated everyone point of view of the situation throughout the play. “ After some time, to abuse Othello’s ”(55) Act 1 Sc 3. “ Live Roderigo [...] If Cassio do remain, He hath a daily beauty in his life”(225) Act 5 Sc 1. Hatred is another personality that Iago portrays within the play. The vengeance that he wants is to bring down the Moor/Othello and his reputation. “ I hate the Moor. My cause is hearted”(53) Act 1 Sc 3. This hatred for Othello can be seen personal for Iago. “[...] it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets’ Has done my office”(55) Act 1 Sc
Shakespeare’s Othello explores the destructive nature of Iago’s villainy through his ability to confuse appearance with reality through his deception and trickery. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is a scheming antagonist whose goal is to destroy Othello. Iago uses foreshadowing when he says, “I am not what I am.” Iago tells the audience that his loyalty with Othello is all a scheme to destroy him, and his
When Othello finds out about the truth, he stabs himself, as he cannot bear the burden of killing his love. Othello was the general, and Iago his ancient. Iago must display respect to him as he is his commander, but instead, he chooses to betray. To fulfill his desire, Iago provoked his own master to commit suicide in utter humiliation. Emilia was yet another victim of Iago’s actions, she died attempting to defend her master and her mistress.
Iago’s intentions: True Hate or Psychopathic Throughout history hate has been a cause for many deaths. Hate can be blinding and cause people to make irrational decisions. It is no surprise that the antagonist in Shakespeare’s play Othello was Iago; an uncompassionate, hateful person. He not only uses racial slurs throughout the play, but he simply states “I hate the Moore”
The play Othello written by William Shakespeare is a tragedy. In this story there is one character that really stands out and influences the other characters, which causes this tragedy to happen. This character is Iago. Without him, the play wouldn't turn out how it did. Iago seems more of a main character than Othello, who the play is named after. Iago is an evil character, who manipulates a lot of the other characters. Iago uses the other characters in the play to do his dirty work. He manipulates these characters in a way that makes them kill their friends or even themselves.
Throught the beginning of the play there were some clear evidence to emphasize Iago’s hatred for Othello. It all began when Othello chose Cassio a “arithmetician” to be his lieutenant instead of him[Iago] (1.1.97,125). When Iago found out he became very frustrated that a person who is good with numbers became Othello’s lieutenant. This ultimately led to his hatred towards Othello. Iago has also shown his hatred by using animals to describe Othello.
“…Iago, like all of us, does what he does because he is what he is…” (Zender. 1994). What does this quote mean when trying to define Iago as a character in the play Othello by Shakespeare? If you look at Iago’s character from an objective stand point: how he interacts with other characters, what he wants from them, what he wanted to do to each of them, and how his character changes throughout the play can really explain his character (Zander,1994). Some places would describe Iago as one of the greatest villains in Shakespeare literature. He is a very manipulative person and does not care who he is manipulating as long as it works out in the end for him. He is seen as a very honest and kind person when onstage with other characters, but then during these soliloquies you quickly realize the truth about Iago (Marked by Teachers, n.d.). He manipulates Othello on multiple occasions about Othello’s wife, Desdemona. Also, he believes that Othello has slept with his wife, Emelia, so he plans to sleep with Desdemona to get revenge, “wife for wife” (Bevington. 2014). Shakespeare used many soliloquies throughout this play to give his readers a look deep inside of Iago.
It has been pointed out that he has no intelligible plan for destroying Othello, and he never asks himself what good it will do him to ruin so many people. It is enough for him that he “hates” the Moor. . . .(133)
As a masterful leading machiavellian character Iago exploits the flaw all characters poses in Othello which is faith versus doubt in others. A powerful role to mold an entire play behind the goal of a singular entity under the eyes of a scholar qualifies as a protagonist( Hull). Iago breaks the boundaries that define antagonist or protagonist by being complex enough and having enough lines that place him on par if not above Othello (West 42 ). The main flaw in the protagonist argument is how Iago is a static character without any clear transformation. Evidence from his lack of change exist in act one and to the final act is continuously lying and trying to create chaos. Antagonist or protagonist Iago's actions qualify as morally wrong when usually a protagonist that drives the plot is working for good; however, by definition a protagonist is not inertly of good moral code. ( Hull)
It is then on a theme of hate that the play opens. It is a hate of inveterate anger. It is a hate that is bound up with envy. Othello has preferred to be his lieutenant a military theorist, one Michael Cassio, over the experienced soldier Iago, to whom has fallen instead the post of “his Moorship’s ancient”. Roderigo questions Iago:
In my opinion, Iago is the type of character that commits the dirty work moreover could easily live with it or talk his way out of it, whenever suits him. Through his heinous actions and absence reasonable motive, Shakespeare's villain marked as a pioneer of so many writers to create their main antagonist as a similar image to him. The character is pure evil, envy, and manipulative seen in some examples in the play. First, starting with a confession: “I am not what I am"(1.1.61-71) Shakespeare quoting a verse from Exodus "I am what I am" (Exodus 3.14), the last quote shows Iago as the devil using the word of god and change it to define himself.
Iago shows a sense of malice in his soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 3, where he brings up his first idea of how to get rid of Cassio by getting into Othello’s head, "to abuse Othello's ear that he [Cassio] is too familiar with his wife.". Iago keeps pushing to drive the "Moor" to insanity and will continue to "serve" Othello so that eventually he can "serve [his] turn upon him (Othello)". Iago uses the phrase "I hate the Moor" many times in the play to show his sense of malice.
His hatred of Othello stems from envy and vicious jealousy over a position of lieutenancy that Iago wanted but was not given to him, and instead given to a man named Cassio. His hatred of him is proved many times, usually in his soliloquys such as “I hate [Othello]” (Line 724, Act I Scene III), “Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains…” (Line 168, Act I Scene I), and “At least into a jealousy so strong…” (Line 1102, Act II Scene I). Iago, out of his jealous hatred, goes to such lengths as deceiving his own wife and tricking a
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
In each case, Iago manipulates Othello into seeing and believing what he wants him to, rather than the reality of what is actually happening. In this way, Iago becomes a kind of ‘director’.
While this is happening, Iago has put Othello in a hidden room so that he can listen. Othello thinks that Cassio is talking about Desdemona, his wife, when he is not. Neither Othello nor Cassio is aware of how Iago manipulated them to make Othello turn on Cassio. Iago’s third and last characteristic is that he is a murderer. In the last scenes of Othello Iago kills Rodrigo. He kills him because Rodrigo is a loose end that Iago wants to make sure does not tell anyone of the deeds that Iago has done. The second person Iago kills is his wife. Emilia is “Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s attendant” (Briggs). In Othello Desdemona is given a handkerchief from Othello that is special to him. Desdemona drops it one day and Emilia picks it up and gives it to Iago not knowing the sentimental value it has to Othello. Iago then uses as a visual reference to make it seem as if Desdemona gave it to Cassio, which fuels Othello’s jealously even more. In the end Emilia tells that she gave it to Iago which makes Othello realize that his wife was telling the truth. Because Emilia spoke the truth after Iago told her to hold her tongue, he kills