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Iago's Soliloquy Analysis Essay

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Soliloquies play a vital role in William Shakespeare’s works. One of the most important examples of soliloquy use by a character was provided by Iago throughout the play, Othello. A soliloquy is side speech given by a character that is directed to the audience; it most often used to reveal emotions or thoughts of a character in a play. Iago’s use of soliloquies are very unique and stand out from any other character. They constantly change the audience's opinion of him. Each of Iago’s eleven soliloquies reveals his true evil or gains him pity from the audience. This trend makes Iago’s character unpredictable and hard to analyze. Iago’s vast knowledge and understanding of humanistic behavior is the greatest contributor to his most …show more content…

He gloats about the easy in which he can manipulate Roderigo (the fool) into giving him money. Directly after this, you hear of Iago’s feelings towards Othello (the Moor). You learn of Iago’s suspicion about his wife having an affair with Othello. This gains pity from the audience, because you feel that Iago is a man deeply distraught over the idea of his wife cheating on him. Iago then begins to contemplate how he would seek vengeance on Othello and gain his title. Iago plans to use Othello’s trust and opinion of him to his advantage. He speaks about how he will use Cassio as his pawn to lure Othello into believing his wife, Desdemona is being unloyal to him. Iago discloses that Othello’s character is naive and will be easy to manipulate. As his closing statement he states that, with a little help from the devil, his monstrous plan will be a success. Iago’s second soliloquy reveals how he manipulates Cassio and Desdemona. While Desdemona waits for Othello to return from his journey across ravenous seas, Iago joins her. He purposely acts like a jerk to Desdemona and his wife, Emilia in front of Cassio. When Iago departs from the group, Cassio, in his good mannered gentleman way, reassures Desdemona that Othello will make it to shore fine. Having Desdemona confide in his words, Cassio takes interest in her just as Iago had planned. In act II

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