In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago is the right-hand man of the general of the Venetian army, Othello. Unexpectedly, Iago’s promotion was passed to a strategist, Michael Cassio. This event kick start the tragedy of the play. Hence, the passing of promotion, in my opinion, is the core motivation of Iago’s animosity against Othello and Cassio. Capitalising on the core motivation, Iago further goes on to look for additional motivation to justify his own act. As Iago is an opportunist, he would make full use of the given circumstance to his advantage, and to a large extend, motivates his behaviour. In my opinion, Iago’s core motivation at the beginning was not sufficient for him to act upon, hence, he continually seek for supplementary motivation to persuade himself to seek revenge. However, Iago unknowingly let his supplementary motivation drive him too far out, and eventually to the point of no return. This paper will highlight the process of Iago developing his core motivation, seeking additional motivation, and eventually empowering his supplementary motivation to motivate him primarily. Beginning with Act 1, when Roderigo confronted Iago for not informing him about the marriage of Othello and Desdemona, Iago did not try to defend himself because he knows that Roderigo would not be …show more content…
Iago said in line 25 “Well, happiness to their sheets! Come, Lieutenant, I have a stoup of wine, and here without without are a brace of Cyprus gallants that would fain have a measure to the health of black Othello.”, Cassio attempted to reject Iago politely, but Iago insisted on Cassio’s participation, resulting in Cassio’s unwilling participation, as we can see in line 40 Cassio said “I’ll do ’t, but it dislike