The Dynamic Relationship Of Shakespeare 's Play, Bargains With Fate : Psychological Crises And Conflicts

* This theme is mainly developed through the major characters of the play. They all employ this unconscious, protective self-delusion strategy that makes life possible. Through their susceptibility to Iago’s plotting, and the unfolding of their characters, their lack of self-awareness is demonstrated

To begin with, analyzing Iago’s character is an important part. One article mentions that Iago, “… can play a number of roles convincingly, and is able to adapt his tone and style to suit any occasion.” (“Villainous Role of Iago in Othello”). This is a big factor of how Iago so easily manipulates the other characters by being able to realize the person he is talking to and alter his personality. As the

Iago takes what most of us see as good and uses those traits against characters in the play. He is able to take something as pure as Othello and Desdemona's love or Cassio's loyalty as a weakness that he can pounce on. "He holds me well; The better shall my purpose work on him." (I, iii, 381-382) Iago possesses no good qualities so as a jealous pay back he takes trust and turns it against the trusting and then tries to take it even further for himself.

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello, Iago demonstrates a mastery of manipulation over people who had previously trusted and confided in him. His sudden turn from Othello’s loyal ensign to rage-filled villain seems indicative of a man who can no longer accept his position in life. Iago’s plotting of Othello’s demise starts as idle talk of a disgruntled 28 year-old career military man passed over for promotion. Iago believes that such a promotion may never come after Othello rejects his candidacy and makes it clear that he did not believe him suitable. He sees Othello is only concerned with personal and political gain with his choice of Cassio as lieutenant. When Iago teams with love-scorned and desperate Roderigo, he begins

The relationships in Shakespeare’s plays are never simple and even less so when one narrows the field to his tragedies. In the case of Iago and Othello this complicated relationship is made more so by the interwoven theme of appearance verses reality. The idea of Iago, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, fighting both for and against his master that permeates the play. Othello, however, a seasoned warrior being unable to see through the guise is a flaw his companion takes advantage of. Iago’s hatred is the biggest mystery of this play, making the reader wish Shakespeare had written a prequel.

Iago's manipulative nature has a profound effect on the decisions made by other characters in Shakespeare's ‘Othello’. Through his relations with those around him Shakespear characterizes him as a man full of malice, vengeance and dishonesty that is wholly inspired by jealousy. Furthermore it would appear that Iago has an exceptional ability to scheme, a talent which he uses to snake his way into the lives of others and exploit them through their weaknesses. Whether he does this for profit or for pleasure is a separate issue.

Iago is the antagonist of the play, and one of the most evil Shakespearean villains. Iago is extremely clever in the way he uses unsuspecting power- especially psychological power. He gets into people’s heads in many dishonest ways- by spreading false rumours, telling lies and psychologically tricking people and secretly controlling certain situations. His power to manipulate is a key point in the play, as it results in major consequences and the deaths of some main characters. Iago’s schemes are multi-levelled- he conspires with roderigo, and makes him believe that Desdemona will take him back. On another level, he leads Othello to believe his wife is having an affair with Cassio. He uses his wife Emilia (unknown to her), to bring back the handkerchief he uses to deceive Othello. Iago is an extremely resourceful and talented man, but he uses these resources and talents in detrimental ways. Iago is constantly referred to by numerous characters as ‘honest’. He himself also refers to honesty. Numerous characters believe that they know and trust Iago and that he would not lie, nor deceive them. Iago’s soliloquies also provide invaluable insight into his wicked mind and evil schemes and plans.

Throughout the entirety of Shakespeare’s play Othello, it is apparent that one of the play’s main characters, Iago, has a persistent mental disorder that causes him to make unreasonable actions throughout the course of the play. Showcased by Iago are symptomsareIago exhibits symptoms such as a lack of empathy for others, strong and inappropriate emotional outbursts, strong changes in emotions, and a history of unstable relationships with others. These symptoms can be observed throughin how Iago interacts with the other characters, such as Desdemona, Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo. In addition, Iago’s thoughts have put on display shown his unstable mind, as well as the way in whichand how he sorts out his unethical actions. For these reasons, Iago exhibits symptoms that can be identified as Borderline Personality Disorder.

Iago is one of the most misunderstood villains in Shakespeare literature. We side with Othello from the start because his name is on the cover of our paperback, we read Othello when learning about heroes, so we expect Iago to be a villain, a ruthless manipulator. We don’t know why, he doesn’t state it plainly or in simple English, so we assume that he’s evil, that he’s just a disgruntled sociopath out to exact his exaggerated revenge on good and noble Othello. Iago’s misunderstood reputation is a result of not truly examining his character, and answering the “why” factor behind his actions. After all, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. His goal in the play was not just to destroy Othello for the fun of it. His objective,

William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ is one of the most emotionally fraught and psychologically intense of all of Shakespeare’s tragedies. The deeply psychological ideas it explores such as the nature of narcissism and psychopathy become a concentrated concoction of jealousy, hatred, insecurity, rage and repressed sexual desires within their isolated setting on the Island of Cyprus. When one applies a psychoanalytic lens to the play the internal workings of the human mind bubble to the surface with an intensity that is difficult to ignore. This is best expressed by analyzing the characters of Othello, a clear example of a narcissist and Iago, an id driven psychopath, and the way in which the two influence and psychologically feed off each other.

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

That Shakespeare was keenly interested in the study of the abnormal mind is commonly accepted among students. [. . .] The suggestion that Iago may have been intentionally drawn as a psychopathic personality is not new. [. . .] Even a casual scrutiny of a book on case histories of psychopathic patients will find Iago peeping out from many of its pages. Still more, Iago’s name will be found appearing occasionally in bold print in

As the villain in Shakespeare's play Othello, Iago has two main actions. They are to plot and to deceive. Iago wishes to plot and to deceive because he is jealous of Othello and hates him. Iago's reasons for why he hates Othello is because he believes that Othello made love to his wife, and Iago is mad that Cassio was chosen to be Lieutenant instead of himself. From this hate comes the main conflict of the play.

Despite the fact that Iago is angry with Othello and Cassio, Iago should not be mad enough about the promotion to lead it to the end of Othello or the murder of Desdemona. While it is understandable that he would be mad, Iago does not have a reason to be this angry and this creates a complexity to Iago’s character that makes him an interesting villain. The audience can conclude that Iago simply enjoys the idea of hurting others. He is flattered by how manipulative and sneaky he is, and often times throughout the play, he will have an aside speech where he tells the audience just what he has done and what it will lead to. Iago’s character is very diverse, yet simple at the same time.

The characterization of Iago brings with it various possibilities for his actions, and while some almost appear justifiable, there are those that are not. While Iago seems to have reasons to go after Othello and Cassio the enjoyment of the act is questionable. For instance, consider the statement, “My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught,” (Shakespeare, 2014, 4.1.45). So, Iago’s enjoyment of his vile actions, using perceived wrongs as a front allows for the possibility of a personality disorder (West, 1978).