Who Is Responsible For Othello's Downfall

In William Shakespeare’s play Othello, the Iago is the most important character. It is his dreams, hopes and desires that turn him evil, bringing out the worst possible characteristics in order to achieve all the things he wants. Iago’s manipulative traits, deceitful actions and love for Othello eventually cause the death Emilia, Desdemona and Othello himself.

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.

Othello is the character with whom most of Iago's methods have success. His weakness as a jealous lover is apparent early on, but only after Iago’s has planted the seeds of doubt within his mind. Such is Othello’s trust for Iago that he uses the misnomer of describing Iago as ‘honest Iago’ and irony considering the action held within the play.  The trust is obvious and implicit and thoroughly entrenched within the language. Othello surmises on the aforementioned doubts during the last act of the play when he says;

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.

Iago abuses Othello’s trusting inclination in order both further his personal rank and ruin the lives of those he feels have wronged him. Trusting by nature, Othello initially refuses to see anything but the best in people, including Iago. Iago exploits this by making Othello believe things that are completely false. In Othello’s view Iago would not lie to him because he had no reason to and had never done so before. Iago does this because he feels he has been wronged when told that “[Cassio]… must his lieutenant be… and I his Moorship’s ancient” (I i 35). Iago thinks that he should be given the position that was given instead to Cassio, and he feels that he must take brutal revenge on Othello for being the source of his calamities. Using the trust bestowed upon him by Othello Iago feeds rumors to Othello that trigger jealousy and arouse

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,

Iago’s indignation arises from knowing that someone with no experience received the position. The bitterness is left unchecked and quickly turns into hate. Instead of going to Othello, he whined and pined over it and eventually he says, “...I hate the Moor” (1.3.369). His hatred toward Othello drives him to become deceptive and manipulative. Iago advises Cassio: “confess yourself freely to her; importune her to help you put you in your place again” (2.3.282-284). Although this seems to be sound advice, Iago plans to deceive Othello by leading him to believe that Cassio and Desdemona are in love. In an aside, Iago says, “I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear, / ...So I will turn her virtue into pitch, / And out of her own goodness make the net / That shall enmesh them all” (2.3.316,320-322). Through deception Iago aspires to bring Othello and Cassio to their knees and achieve the position he so desired. With the first step of his plan complete, Iago now has to manipulate Othello into action. In an aside Iago sneers, “O, you are well tuned now! / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music” (2.1.194-195). Essentially, Iago is going to manipulate Othello in such a way that Othello becomes a puppet acting based on Iago’s wishes. In Iago’s ideal world, he will make Othello love him more and hate Cassio:

William Shakespeare’s Othello uses different and unique techniques in his language to express the nature of evil throughout the play. Verbal twists and the characters most importantly stress the act of evil. Iago, most of all is portrayed as the “villain” or “protagonist in the play. Shakespeare uses this character to set the basis of evil. Each plot point is spiraled further into tragedy due to the nature of Iago and his manipulative language towards the other main characters.

From the very beginning of Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is held in very high regard within the community in Venice. He is often called “honest Iago” by many people, including his superior, Othello. There is a large juxtaposition between Iago’s perceived character in the beginning of the play, and the general feeling at the end of the play. There are two possible reasons that this man that many now know to be one of the most infamous antagonists of all time, to be revered, loved, and trusted as a most loyal friend.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago appears to be trustworthy but in truth, he is manipulative and dubious. Iago is a villainous character and he tries to achieve his desires of becoming a lieutenant by disguising himself as a honest person. Iago uses trust as a weapon to defeat his enemies and he only serves Othello to eventually, “serve [his] turn upon him” (1.1.42). Moreover, Iago’s capability to hide true feelings allows him to betray his commander, Othello for his own benefits. Soon, Iago decides to take the first step of his revenge by breaking Othello’s marriage with Desdemona. For this purpose, he manipulates Desdemona’s father named, Brabantio by suggesting that “an old black ram is tupping [his] white ewe” (1.1.90) . The disgusting sexual

Iago uses othello's blind faith in other human beings to his advantage. When iago tells othello his wife is sleeping with other men, he only briefly suspects iago as othello says“If thou dost slander her and torture me, never pray more, abandon all remorse, on horror’s head horrors accumulate” (act 3 scene 3) but when iago pretends to be offended othello immediately starts to believe what iago has told him. Once Othello decides that he was betrayed by cassio and desdemona, he is filled with desire of revenge because they have taken away his faith in goodness and integrity of human

Calvin Williams Mr. Fuller English Composition II 09, December 2014 Othello Researh: Iago From reading and understanding William Shakespeare’s play Othello, he presents us with a character that is a villain name Iago. He has been seen as a honest man by many of the characters within the play. With Iago serving in the military and had gone through the ranks he felt kind of over looked throughout the film and text. Iago, himself is view to be very two faced, trifling, prejudice, jealous, and etc…

William Shakespeare has presented Iago as the antagonist, who manipulates other characters in the play, Othello. From the beginning to till the end, he is a controller of other characters and his sole motive was to take revenge on Othello and Cassio. Every character in the play believes that Iago is the most reputed, honest, reliable, and direct speaking person. Therefore, he uses that trust to manipulate every character in the play for his sake of revenge. Despite his negative intention in the play, Iago love for his wife Emilia is true and pure. Iago is truthful only to his wife. Iago was a good with everybody in the beginning, but when Moor chose Cassio over him for the post of Othello lieutenant, he got jealous. Iago believed that he was the only one who was worthy of that post and who deserved a promotion. However, choosing Cassio over him made him hate Cassio and Othello. This incident seeded the plant of revenge in Iago’s heart for Othello and Cassio and he wanted to kill them both. From this point of play, Iago starts his plan in manipulating another character of play for his revenge.

     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.

Every act in Othello contains an evil plot planned by Iago. It is ironic because, in the play, Iago is known as “honest Iago”. He is motivated by his disempowering feeling of bitterness, cynicism, and jealousy. Iago’s