Iago's Language

lying to his friend, and getting back at his enemy! Iago’s character has learned to use a high intensity of deception. Iago pretends to be this sweet innocent man, while in reality the audience knows his

Iago's intentions and motives for the malicious and evil acts he performs can be fully realized when he reads his soliloquies to the audience. It gives Iago the chance to be completely honest for once and provides the irony when the audience knows Iago's plans but the other characters are unaware and call him ‘Honest Iago'.

Honest, meaning free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere. All of which Iago is not. This can be surprising considering the numerous times the word honest is used in Othello to reference Iago. Throughout the play the audience gets a first hand look of how Iago contributes to the theme of appearance versus reality that creates dramatic irony.

Language and words are powerful tools that can be used to communicate with other people, and share our inner thoughts or destroy the happiness of others. A few words can cause the monsters of fear and doubt to protrude a person’s mind and rescind their happiness. “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt (Shakespeare). This can every so often destroy the serene mindset of a person once the slightest bit doubt is placed before them. Iago enjoyed twisting his words to fabricate a story to achieve what he desired. He begins to make his hatred for Othello known once the general promotes the inexperienced Cassio as lieutenant instead of himself. By expressing his talents for understanding, manipulating and taking advantage of the desires of his friends proves that he is an austere character. Iago lied to everybody for his own selfish ways. Lying goes against the very nature of man and destroys the relationship between men. “Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships” (CCC

Iago’s Manipulation: Rhetorical Strategies Othello, believed to be written in 1603 by William Shakespeare, is a tragedy that follows Othello, the Moor of Venice, and his wretched ensign: Iago. Iago, a war veteran, has vowed revenge on Othello after Othello awarded the position of lieutenant to an undeserving man named Cassio, and allegedly slept with Iago’s wife. Throughout the play, Iago exploits almost every character to ruin Othello, specifically his marriage. In order to manipulate Othello, Iago uses rhetorical strategies and techniques, such as irony and apostrophe, in a passage from Act III, scene iii of Othello.

Othello Motif of Deception Throughout the Tragedy of Othello, we see a constant state of deception from Iago and we are shown the devastating impact it has on the outcome of the play. Without this characteristic shown from the Iago and the constant display of it throughout the story, Othello would have fallen short of its goal in leaving the readers in suspense and mystery as to what would occur next. This motif is shown through Iago's lying and personal betrayal to Roderigo, Othello, and the women of the play.

In Othello, much conflict arises due to Iago’s manipulation of others. His character uses his language wisely in order to get what he wants. In William Shakespeare's Othello, Iago’s mastery of language contributes to his ability to manipulate those around him. Examples of these are prevalent in conversations Iago has with not only Rodrigo, but also Othello.

Iago’s manipulative nature is shown here, with his rhetoric a key feature he uses to deceive and exploit characters In the play which enables him to gain mental control over his

We are presented with one of Iago’s many soliloquies; this being about his cunning plan to sabotage Othello. Shakespeare utilises iambic pentameter in order to represent this lust to destroy Othello in his turmoil; Iago affirms, “If I would time expend with such a snipe / But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor”. Shakespeare would often write in iambic pentameter to represent structure not only within the scene, but also within the person.

In Othello, Shakespeare takes Iago's actions as the main turning point in the play; also, he takes three of the most important modes of persuasion in rhetoric (Pathos, Logos, and Ethos). Those modes of persuasion perfectly describe Iago's character. Ethos is taking by Iago's reasons to be against Othello and by what he says and how is him. He can make anyone believe in anything. He has the ability to manipulate every character in the play including Othello. His hate and anger towards him, built Othello's catastrophe trough the play.

Numerous times in Othello, the characters believe the reputation of Iago to be honest, often calling him “honest fellow” or “honest Iago." With this reputation,

The third and final sub-topic that will be analysed is the fact that language is a medium of self-expression. According to Damascelli (2012) “The important or predominant personality of one character over the others can be brought out in several ways for example through the use of soliloquies. In the play Othello Iago uses soliloquies to reveal and express his malicious intentions. Iago is not the only character in Othello that uses language and language devices to express himself effectively. At the beginning of the play Othello speaks in verse and this is an indication of his state of mind being healthy but as the play progresses Othello uses prose to express himself. When Othello moves from verse to prose it shows us that there is a degeneration of

Drunk in the rage of betrayal and love, General Othello’s eyes are are clouded when it come to judgement. Appearing bold, at the core the antagonist Iago communicates almost like his dismayed with emotions in a way his letters insinuate perfectly. No proposal is thought out fully, pieces are matched simply with intuition, it all boils down to revenge.

At the end of act one, Shakespeare wrote a private soliloquy for Iago. Its purpose is for the audience to know what he is planning, as it sets the stage for the rest of the play: the plot is based upon Iago’s plan. This creates tension and anticipation as we are waiting to see whether the plan works or not, and what the consequences of the plan are. Throughout the soliloquy, Iago speaks in Blank Verse as opposed to prose. Blank Verse is what was used for the important people, for example the Duke would speak in blank verse. Iago may not be as powerful as the Duke, but to highlight his importance as he’s the main villain, Iago speaks in Blank Verse. It also highlights Iago’s self-importance, because Iago feels as though he is above everyone else, Shakespeare wrote is lines in Blank Verse.

The form and structure of both speeches are somewhat alike. Shakespeare writes both in iambic pentameter. In Othello’s case, this mimics a pattern of regular, composed speech, showing that Othello is a confident, poised public speaker, not like the previous impression he gave of himself as ‘rude’ of speech. Apart from showing Othello as civilised and self-possessed, this could imply a slight duplicity about Othello, maybe hinting at less truthful and honourable aspects of his character. For Iago, the structure of iambic pentameter, rather than the more deranged and less orderly prose shows that Iago is perfectly calm and emotionless when plotting to destroy Othello’s marriage. This gives the audience an impression of his complete, chilling villainy, and establishes him as a character to whom the audience take a disliking.