Manipulation And Vengeance In Shakespeare's Othello

Manipulation and revenge were present throughout the story of Othello from the work of Iago; a trained military man who was confident in his skills and knowledge. When Othello’s promotion was given to a younger and less skilled man named Michael Cassio, Iago became a villain capable of destroying trust, faking friendships, and compulsively lying with every chance given to ruin Othello. In addition, Iago was successful in taking away everything that was important to Othello such as his wife, Desdemona, and his image creating Othello into someone he wasn’t. In the end, Iago never stayed the same. In other words, Iago was constantly growing his hatred and revenge with each plan plotted against the Othello, allowing his manipulation to escalate

His character was largely focused on taking everything away and hurting Othello. Once he found the factors that would contribute to Othello’s downfall, he began to destroy the trust between them. First, it began with Othello’s trust towards Desdemona and Cassio. To ensure Othello was losing his trust towards the two, he decided to make him visualize a hidden relationship between the them. When Iago made a fool out of Cassio by drinking, he lost his position potentially making Iago the next best man to take the promotion. Once that was cleared from Iago’s list, he knew how Desdemona would react giving the situation a reason for an affair to appear in front of Othello. With Iago’s intention of destroying the trust between his wife and Cassio, Othello’s reasoning and logic became fogged, and the character turns undoubtful. “O curse of marriage, that we can call these delicate creatures ours and not their appetites! I had rather be a toad and live upon the vapor of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others’ uses. Yet ’tis the plague of great ones; Prerogatived are they less than the base. ’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death” (III.iii.267–279). Othello does not want to believe what Iago tells him, however, he has raised his suspicions and represents how far Iago’s plan is

Under those circumstances, Othello lost his trust for his wife and Cassio, was compelled under Iago’s lies through the friendship Iago created, and ended the story by committing suicide to admit to his guilt. All in all, Iago’s character and actions were psychotic and dangerous. They had serious consequences for those around him and for the villain that surfaced from Iago after the small decision made for Othello. “Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well, of one not easily jealous but, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme; of one whose