The perfect villain often walks the fine line between love and hate, captivating the audience with their cunning machinations, while deftly wreaking havoc in the story. The three-dimensional villain Iago in the poignant tragedy, Othello, by William Shakespeare, encapsulates such facets of a perfect villain as his characterization and actions enthrall not only the characters in the story, but also the viewers in the audience. In the play, the eponymous protagonist Othello and a handful of other main character’s suffer at the grasp of Iago’s manipulation, which causes the untimely deaths of many. Iago is the quintessential villain capable of such feats because of two key abilities that he possesses: his ability to exploit others’ weaknesses to achieve his goals and his ability to act out of pure malice without remorse. …show more content…
From the outset of the play, Iago exudes his deceitfulness as he interacts with Roderigo. Devious and deceptive, he has discerned that Roderigo is a desperate, jealous, and naive fool with money; he uses him as a tool to bring his plans to fruition and as a source of money: “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse./For I mine own gained knowledge should profane/If I would/time expend with such a snipe/But for my sport and profit.”(1.3.374-377). Roderigo unwittingly propels Iago’s unscrupulous plans forward all the while being exploited. Inevitably, he grows tired of Iago’s elusive plans and “seek[s] satisfaction of [him],” (4.2.173-198), threatening to kill Iago. Nevertheless, Iago manipulates the situation to his benefit and convinces