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How Does Iago Present The Theme Of Revenge In Othello

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In William Shakespeare’s play Othello one of the many themes is revenge. Iago, the great antagonist of the play, delivers a speech in Act 2, scene 1 lines 280-306 that captures the true theme of revenge. Through literary analysis It is shown that that these speech entrails the theme of revenge Iago upholds this whole play. Iago, on of the classic villains, manipulates a group of people who he thinks have done him wrong. He holds a grudge against Othello due to the fact he gave the lieutenant position to Cassio and not him. Not to mention other rumors floating around the pages of Othello. Who, what, when, where, why? Quick questions of this scene. Who is speaking is Iago the villain of this play, he speaks to the audience and tells his personal dialog. What is going on in this play is Iago speaks about how he will get revenge by making Othello jealous using Cassio and Desdemona. He also talks about how he suspects that Othello and Cassio slept with his wife Emilia. When this happens is act 2, scene 1. Iago tells this speech after he gets done convincing Roderigo that he should fight Cassio because he and Desdemona are having an affair. Why Iago directly speaks this speech to the audience is so that the audience knows exactly what …show more content…

Iago says” And nothing can or shall content my soul till I am even with him, wife for wife.” (292-293) He also states “But partly led to diet my revenge.” (288) The whole speech is about Iago’s plan to make Othello jealous by lying and saying that Cassio and Desdemona are sleeping together. Iago thinks if he can make this happen he will get revenge on Othello for giving a position he deserved to Cassio. He also is getting revenge on Othello for the rumor that he and Iago’s wife slept together. Saying that this speech is all about Iago’s plan for revenge this speech is exactly tied to the main theme of the play,

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Iago Act II scene 3 Analysis After Cassio is rid of his position in Othello’s army, Iago’s villainous plan slowly begins to show promise. He is again given the chance to perform a soliloquy, both to revel in his own villainy and also as a way for Shakespeare to engage the audience in regards to what Iago has done and what he intends to do. Throughout the soliloquy, Iago attempts to justify himself and his actions, from the very beginning: “And what’s he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest”. He claims that he can’t be labelled as a villain or ‘a bad person’, as he’s giving legitimate advice.

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Iago gives a soliloquy at the end of Act 1 that depicts what he wants to do to go about his plan. Iago desires to persuade the audience, which are the readers of the soliloquy, that his plan of taking revenge on Othello will work. Iago effectively persuades the audience his effectiveness of his plan to suspect Desdemona of cheating on Othello by utilizing hasty generalization, diction, and hyperbole. Iago gives a statement that is hastily generalized near the start of his soliloquy.

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The theme of jealousy renders prominently into Iago’s character at first, being the fuel to his acts of cruelty. The way Iago feels he could revenge himself is by demoralizing Othello, Iago goes about this by lying to Othello, telling him that Desdemona (Othello’s wife) is having an affair with another man (Cassio). In order to get Othello to believe his cruel lie, Iago had to use a number of things. He first uses

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Iago’s evilness is shown when he says, “I’ll pour pestilence into his ear” (2.3.38). In this quote, the beginnings of Iago’s destructive plan involving Cassio and Desdemona are shown. Iago informs Cassio that he should consider speaking with Desdemona about gaining his spot as lieutenant again. In reality, Iago desires to destroy Cassio’s chances of gaining his spot; by “destroy”, I mean ruin his chances. The antagonist also tells Cassio to speak with Desdemona, setting him up to be seen as too close with Desdemona.

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Iago has discovered a rumor of his wife, Emilia, wooing Othello, the man who also passed Iago on a promotion to lieutenant and gave such a position to Cassio. This would make anyone furious; however, Iago sees potential to correct what he perceives as an injustice. Iago explains his motivation for

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This is through Cassio’s demotion. Secondly, it reveals Iago is much thrilled by his villainy and with himself. His love is hidden in his deep hypocrisy. Thirdly, it reveals his wicked plans of bringing down his colleagues due to jealousy and bitterness. Finally, the scene comes to an end through Iago switching the mind of Othello, which he puts into tormenting this, he was to make Emilia persuade Desdemona to help Cassio, and then he would create a scene where Othello would see Cassio and Desdemona together (Kerrigan, 2016).

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He is saying that he hates Othello and has spread rumors about him and his wife. Iago attempts to make everyone turn against Othello. Iago uses manipulation throughout the play, which affects others. Iago says, "Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.

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He wants to get revenge on Othello because he's jealous because he heard that Othello slept with his wife. He also says he'll talk bad about Cassio to Othello because he wants to get him fired and Cassio got the position he wanted. I learned that Iago's plans will work out every time he gets angry and starts ranting like this speech. He mainly talks about Othello and Cassio in this speech because he is jealous of them. Iago even got Othello to be jealous by telling him the faintest lies and letting them get to him.

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Although it was still very early on, as a reader, it sets up Iago’s plan to denounce Othello by any means possible. In reality, Iago was trying to get Othello on bad terms with Brabantio. Brabantio was unaware of Desdemona's marriage to Othello and did not believe what Roderigo was screaming in the streets. All set into motion by one conniving Iago.

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In Act 3 and 4, Desdemona promises Cassio she will help restore his job and rank, by speaking with Othello. Iago begins planting seeds of an affair between Desdemona and Cassio in Othello’s mind. In Act 5, Iago wounds Cassio. Emilia, Iago’s wife, is murdered by Iago for telling people the truth. Roderigo dies from Iago’s hand, because Iago didn’t want him telling the truth.

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