The Spectrum Of Human Nature Essay

Iago plants ideas in Othello’s head, uses the innocent actions of others as his proof; and Othello, who is not practiced in worldly matters, believes his the misnomer of the “honest Iago”, and eventually is consumed by the lie.

Once a seed of suspicion or doubt is planted in a person’s mind, the noxious effect of jealousy is soon to ensue. Jealousy and suspicion are Othello’s flaws hubris throughout the play and foreshadow to the audience his imminent downfall. He believes what Iago tells him so strongly that he compromises his close relationship with his best friend and his love for his wife. Iago manipulates Othello through the use of extortion, literary techniques, and his keen judge of character. His syntax and diction are so simple yet so powerful because he uses the correct rhetorical questions and addresses Othello with respectful terms such as “my lord.” He allows Othello do most of the talking

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.

Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar in “The Engaging Qualities of Othello” comment on how the character of Iago is the wholly expected type of villain for an Elizabethan audience:

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 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,

In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the antagonist Iago is arguably the most heinous villain in all of literature. His ability to shape shift in and out of character is what makes him unique. His tactics are similar to that of a cold blooded chameleon. Iago’s art of persuasion, his mastery of rhetoric as well as his ability to sense his victims’ insecurities and weaknesses, is what makes him so diabolically ruthless. Throughout the play, one can truly see the power of words and their delivery, and the massive influence that they can have over people. Iago employs charlatan techniques to appeal to his victims’ emotional, logical and ethical weaknesses for his own selfish political gain. Iago’s rhetorical methods entrances many of the key characters and leads them to arrive at the assumptions he wants them to reach. Through these methods, Iago is able to transform Othello from a calm, collected, composed general to an insecure, emotional, and malleable puppet. Through his manipulation of all the key characters, Iago is nonetheless able to remain in favored perception, as he is ironically referred to as “honest Iago”. What makes Iago so intriguing, is his ability to carry out his selfish agenda without being detected. Iago utilizes reverse psychology, indirect insinuations, and explicit imagery to deceive others and force them under his spell. Iago’s intentions are always

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.

Othello speaks to Iago in Act Three of the play saying, “certain, men should be what they seem” (3.3.131). This excerpt foreshadow events in which Othello will begin to question the actions and morality of Cassio and Desdemona, all orchestrated by Iago’s scheming nature. This is a very important concept to showcase because Othello devoutly loves Desdemona and trusts Cassio until conniving language from Iago causes him to think otherwise. Drawing on Shakespeare’s source story by Cinthio and other outside sources, textual information can be gathered to explore major concerns of “Othello”. Throughout this essay, I will present textual evidence from multiple sources examining the central concerns of the play, which include identity and revenge.

In William Shakespeare’s seventeenth century play Othello readers can see that Iago isn’t the only one responsible for the tragedies within this text as he didn’t actually kill the Othello or Desdemona and all people have free will and must choose to accept manipulation. Although Iago played a major role in bringing about the disaster evident in this script, other characters played a supporting although vital role. The Elizabethan play is set during a time of war and racial conflict. This social climate breeds insecurity in the minds of its people.

     Iago, the villain in Shakespeare’s Othello, is a round character of great depth and many dimensions. Iago works towards an aim that is constantly changing and becomes progressively more tragic. Yet, at times, "honest" Iago does actually seem honest. This essay will explore the complex character of "honest Iago.

One of the most interesting qualities of the play Othello are the intricate webs Shakespeare crafts connecting many characters to every event. Although some actions may seem to affect only a select few at first, the webs almost always intertwine more characters over time. When considering all the examples of such, perhaps the most extreme example is Iago’s conspiracy against Othello. What starts out as a conspiracy against Othello transforms into a series of acts that end up hurting many more than just Othello, and involve nearly every character in the play. Although such a result may be hard to believe, Iago’s rapid degradation from a masterful conspirator to an impulsive, helpless, and sloppy killer is one that happens quite often in the

Humanity is constructed of people who damage and exploit others for their own self benefit. In the play, “Othello”, from Act 1 by William Shakespeare, Iago tricks Roderigo into giving him his riches and jewelry. In exchange for Desdemona's love. Iago has a diabolical tone towards Othello and the things that matter most to him. He plans to undertake Cassio and his profession. The main character, Iago, uses the literary elements; suspense, simile and foreshadowing to convey the act of being trust worthy but in reality a conman. He is known as an honest man throughout the play although, his devious actions tell us otherwise. It is human nature for people to see the commendable values in others and not their deceitful ways. Men only want to show you a fraction of who they perceive to be. Shakespeare uses suspense to create the ambience of the following acts to come. Us as readers, we are eager to find out how Iago plans on damaging Othello without someone

The dynamic relationship in this play between two characters is a struggling guide to realizing what motivated the cause of this tragedy. I believe that Iago’s behavior is psychologically motivated. Understanding the relationship takes much study not only on their relationship, but on the motivation of Iago. Shakespeare left the play entirely unclear on the reasoning behind Iago’s villainous ways. Numerous psychoanalytic spectators have tried to explain Iago’s behavior. One, for example, is latent homosexuality as Martin Wangh believed it to be the tragedy of Iago’s sexuality.

William Shakespeare wrote the play “Othello, the Moor of Venice” in 1604; the setting had taken place in the late sixteenth century. In the tragedy Othello, Shakespeare created a theme that was not only based on jealousy but hatred as well. The symbol of the story was the handkerchief which added intensity to the story between the characters Othello and his wife Desdemona. Racism, love, and manipulation also played a major part in the story as revenge between the two characters Othello and Iago had arose. The character that I chose to write about was Iago; in the story he was deceitful, selfish, manipulative, jealous, but also very clever. He had the tendency to trick anyone to believe what he was saying was the truth. Based upon the comparison of Iago and George Zimmerman we can see that Othello is still relevant today.