In the play Othello, William Shakespeare creates an elaborate tragedy with various in depth characters, enhancing the story with powerful characterization. Iago, the main antagonist of Othello, exemplifies Shakespeare’s use of characterization to create in depth and complex characters. Using his manipulative nature, intellectual mind, egotistical attitude, and dishonesty, Iago controls the other characters in order to achieve his goal, leading Othello to succumb to an overwhelming jealousy causing his downfall.
In order for Iago to gain control of the characters in the play, he manipulates Othello, Roderigo, Cassio, and more to believe false information and turn on one another. In the opening act of the play, Iago and Roderigo wake Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, from his sleep, informing him of his daughter’s marriage to the Moor, Othello. Knowing of Brabantio’s prejudice towards Othello because of his race, Iago says, “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.” (1.1.94-95). Iago feeds anger into Brabantio’s mind using
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Iago embodies dishonesty using lies and deceit to entangle everyone in his trap. In Act 1, Roderigo questions Iago’s faithfulness to Othello. Iago answers by saying, “Whip me such honest knaves,” meaning he only pretends to be faithful and loyal to Othello, fooling him into trusting Iago (1.1.49). As the play progresses, people describe Iago as honest; however, Iago decieves everyone into believing his word. Othello frequently describes Iago as “A man he is of honesty and trust” (1.3.284) as well as “most honest” (2.3.6). In Act 4, Iago lies to Othello saying,“What if I had said I had seen him do you wrong?” convincing Othello of Desdemona and Cassio’s affair (4.1.24). Iago knows Othello’s jealousy overwhelms him at the thought of Cassio and Desdemona, giving Iago control over Othello’s emotions and
As William Shakespeare suggests in the play, “Othello”, character’s actions are inclined to act by their desires; they use these desires to stir their emotions. When an individual is fixated on a goal, it creates a tendency to blind the individual and take a course of action that is unusual to their daily life. When an individual feels slighted by those closest to them they may resort to manipulation and deception in order to elevate themselves as they undermine others. In the play, Iago is a character who is motivated by his feeling of being insulted therefore explains his actions towards those closest to him and thus, leads to his manipulation of others, he felt as if his abilities had been ignored.
How many lies have been told today? More often than not, lies are spoken as frequently as truths. Worse yet, is the inability to sometimes be able to distinguish the difference. The concept of lying has become second nature to the majority of society; in addition individuals tend to lie to themselves more often than to others. This human trait is apparent in Shakespeare’s Othello, which brilliantly mirrors life.
A Cruel Game Unknown to Othello, Iago was motivated by a cruelty that demanded the utter destruction of Othello’s public and private life. In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, Iago is the main antagonist to the protagonist of the story. Iago is motivated by cruelty; his final goal is see all of his adversaries suffer. Cruelty is an especially crucial theme to any story, for it reveals the ugly truth about a character who is primarily motivated by cruelty. The social and political gains of Iago’s cruelty display how the theme functions in a work of literature and what it reveals about both the perpetrator and victim.
When Roderigo and an unknown man, Iago, transports the news of Desdemona’s affair with the Moor, Brabantio’s reaction suggests a feeling of betrayal, and the seemingly quaint relationship suddenly shows its flaws. Before even telling Brabantio of the news, Iago speaks with Roderigo that they will “poison [Brabantio’s] delight” (I.1.69), which in turn gives light to flaws of the relationship between Brabantio and his daughter, “yet throw such chances of vexation on’t as it may lose some colour” (I.1.73-74), for instance a lack of needed communication. To add insult to injury Iago phrases the betrayal in a rather detestable manner: “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”
In Othello, Iago has the trust of other characters, those of whom he does not care for at all. He knows of Roderigo’s desperate love for Desdemona and how “[Roderigo] pays Iago to woo her away from Othello.” (Putnam 43) Iago only “helps” Roderigo in separating the Othello and Desdemona “because it will cause him, Othello, distress.” (Putnam 43) Letting Roderigo believe that Iago is helping him is Iago’s first use of manipulation.
Iago contributes to the tragic downfall of Othello, playing him like a fiddle. The human nature of Iago manipulates the trust
Iago had a great deal of influence in shaping Othello’s identity. He could almost be considered the main character simply due to the amount of lines he has. Iago “employs his comic verve to try to destroy his virtuous antagonist and whose colloquial intimacy with the audience often half-succeeds in winning the audience over” (Greenblatt 427). Although, Iago’s devious actions transform his character into a villain his style of speaking help spectators and readers to easily identify with him. Iago provides the first description of Othello before the protagonist is even seen.
“Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one's own actions or lack of action.” This is a quote from Caribbean-American writer Audre Lorde. Many people express their opinion on guilt, but having written over 20 books, she is a very well-educated individual and her word is looked upon with adoration. Another successful and commendable person is the philosopher, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Nietzsche is the philosopher that came up with the love, guilt, and redemption philosophy, in which Nietzsche believes that the amount of “guilt and debt, the act of giving (of love or money) must never overwhelm the receiver” (Cybulska).
In William Shakespeare’s Othello the two main characters are Iago and Othello. The entire story centers around Iago 's plan to achieve revenge on Othello for not promoting him to lieutenant. Throughout the story Iago tries to convince Othello that his wife Desdemona has cheated on him with his lieutenant Cassio. Iago’s plan is successfully and easily executed. Othello is tricked into believing that desdemona has been unfaithful and in the end he kills her.
Iago knows Cassio was the one who was speaking with Desdemona, he lies to hide the fact that he told Cassio to speak with her so that when Othello finds out it was Cassio he questions why he would hide from him. Throughout the play Iago slowly feeds Othello lies causing him to question Cassio and Desdemona's honesty, Iago knows that Othello trusts him over anybody and he uses that weakness against
Iago also manipulates Othello with jealousy. When Othello is gone at war, Iago tells him that Cassio and Desdemona were getting too close. At first Othello does not believe him, but by Iago saying “nothing,my lord; or if- I know not what” Othello starts to question if it is true (III. III. 39). Iago constantly uses his “innocence” to make Othello jealous and start to assume that it is true. These actions eventually lead to a tragic event.
In Act 1, Scene 3 Iago hatches his plan to deceive his leader into believing that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. Iago mentions that he thinks
William Shakespeare is a classic writer and has written several plays. One of his famous plays he has written was Othello. There is several hidden meaning behind a person’s appearance. Lies and manipulation are common in the play and to society. When Iago manipulates each character he finds their weakness and their passion to make them do what he desires.
The play of Othello is a tragedy that exposes the characters in several ways, causing conflict and envy, eventually leading to a tragic end. To achieve this tragic end, Iago uses manipulation in order to change the views of, and bring out multiple personalities in the characters. One's perception of a situation is directly proportional to the demeanor of a person. When a person changes the way that they look at a situation, the entire way that they present themself; their attitude, behavior, and traits that they exude, change.
As Iago's plot goes on he gets closer to Othello leading up to him hurting Othello by feeding him lies. To begin one example of Iago being completely corrupt is that he is able to seem humble to Othello because he serves under General Othello. Along with that Iagos capacity for cruelty is limitless, including killing his friend and back stabbing his friends. With no motivation shows how he is a sociopath without emotions.