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Fair And Honest In Shakespeare's Othello

557 Words3 Pages

As the Shakespeare of my generation, Kanye West, states in his Grammy nominated single All Falls Down “The prettiest people do the ugliest things on the road to riches”. This message is seen in William Shakespeare's Othello, as a certain character appears fair and honest but is anything but that on the inside. Through the actions of “Honest” Iago, Shakespeare uses the first two acts of Othello to show that people are not always what they seem. Iago is respected throughout Venice, as the residents (including Othello) often refer to him as honest Iago, however this epithet could not be any farther from reality. He is a master manipulator, and a pathological liar and this is shown while constantly taking advantage of the unintelligent Roderigo by “Making the fool my purse”. Iago constantly tricks Roderigo into giving him money by stating it …show more content…

However, Honest Iago is not using the money for Desdemona, but instead shamelessly pockets it. We see this manipulative behavior arise again in Act Two, as Iago unleashes his revenge on Cassio. He states his plan to overpass Cassio as “If I can fasten but one cup upon him With that which he hath drunk tonight already, He'll be as full of quarrel and offense As my young mistress' dog”. Iago says that he knows Cassio is heavily impacted by alcohol, so if he can get Cassio to down a drink, Cassio will appear a fool not worthy of his high position. Iago is extremely envious of Cassio’s position of Othello’s second in command, and he won’t let it last any longer. His plan of making the notorious drunkard tipsy shows how ruthless Iago is in his pursuit of power. The plan ends up working as Iago gets the promotion, but he is far from over. His hate of Othello appears early on in the play, as he states his opinion on Othello “I do hate the moor”. He now wants to witness Othello’s

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As the play begins Othello is looking for a new Lieutenant. Iago has always been dependable to Othello, but he ends up overpassing the position to Cassio, who doesn 't know anything about war duties. Although Iago wants to exterminate Othello over of his jealousy of his popularity, he also wants to sabotage him because of the promotion that he thinks was mistaken, he uses Desdemona as a sin. Indeed Iago is going to destroy Othello because of the promotion that was misconstrued.

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Iago is angry that Othello has promoted Cassio to be his lieutenant rather than himself for he explains that he has more experience as a soldier while Cassio is a soldier who boasts about experiences he never had. This is why Iago believes in taking down Cassio as well by breaking up his bond with Othello as displayed in act 3 scene 3 as Iago questions Othello about seeing Cassio leave Desdemona’s room, “Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it that he would steal away so guilty like, seeing your coming” (3.3.41-43). Iago appears to be as shocked as Othello after witnessing Cassio scurry away from Desdemona’s room, but in truth, it was he who presented to Cassio that he should talk to Desdemona about getting Othello to forgive him as taken place in act 2 scene 3, “Confess yourself freely to her.

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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).

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Iago maliciously uses deceit in order to entrap Othello and continual strategic use of speech tempts Othello to his own extinction (Christofides Par. - 6). The shortcoming for Othello was not Iago’s

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