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Manipulation In Shakespeare's Othello

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T.F Hodges once said,"Manipulation, fueled with good intent, can be a blessing. But when used wickedly, it is the beginning of a magician's karmic calamity." Manipulation will only be suitable when a person is completely selfless. People however will never be completely selfless, therefore they always will try to better themselves by manipulating others. This phenomenon is also elucidated in Shakespeare's tragedies. In Othello, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to demonstrate that resorting to manipulation for personal gain often results in disaster for all parties. Iago's manipulation of Othello destroys his relationship with Desdemona. Othello tells Iago, "Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!/ Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,/ To furnish me with some swift means of death/ For the fair devil. Now art thou my …show more content…

Iago tells Roderigo," I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse; follow thou the wars; defeat thy favor"(I.iii.341-342). Iago needs Roderigo's money, so he makes a false promise of Desdemona's love to motivated him. However , Desdemona is in love with Othello so it is not feasible that Roderigo could win her favor. Later on, Iago implores Roderigo,"Wear thy good rapier bare,/ and Put it home: Quick, quick; fear nothing;/ I’ll be at thy elbow"(V.i.2-4) Iago encourages Roderigo to assassinate Cassio, because he promised Othello that he would eliminate Cassio ,but Iago is not the type of character to get his hands dirty so he gets Roderigo to do the deep for him. Also Iago promises to be right Roderigo his side the whole way but after the fight he instead kills Roderigo to prevent him from leaking how Iago orchestrated the whole affair, which illustrates how despicable of a person Iago is. Iago's manipulation of Roderigo ultimately ends in disaster because Roderigo is dead ,and Iago has gained nothing while ruined everyone's

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Iago takes advantage of Roderigo’s wealth, gullibility, and love for Desdemona. When Roderigo is feeling depressed about not being with Desdemona, Iago tells him “thou shalt enjoy her. Therefore make money” (I, ii, 354-355). Iago promises Roderigo that he will help him be with Desdemona. He also uses Roderigo’s wealth to his advantage by telling him to use his own money.

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And what better candidate than Cassio, who is presented as the exact opposite of Othello? Within the quote, there is a dichotomy of tone: when addressing Desdemona and her desires, Iago uses words like “fresh,” “loveliness,” “sympathy,” “beauties,” and “delicate.” Then, when talking about Othello, he switches over to words such as “inflame,” “abused,” “gorge,” “disrelish,” and “abhor.” It is as if Iago is trying to get Roderigo to subconsciously hate Othello even more, in order to better manipulate Roderigo. Or perhaps Iago can simply not contain the contempt he feels for Othello.

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In the first act of the play, after Roderigo finds out that Othello married Desdemona, he carries out a dialogue with Iago about Iago’s discontentment with Othello, Roderigo comments, “What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,/ If he can carry it thus!” With this, Roderigo shows his feelings of jealousy for Othello, basically stating that luck was on Othello’s side in getting Desdemona, but it will probably not last very long. In addition to this, Roderigo gives Brabantio large sums of money to Iago in order to try to get Desdemona from Othello. In addition to Roderigo’s jealousy, Iago’s jealousy of Cassio cascades to the point where he begins to manipulate Othello to want to kill Cassio, which ends up leading to the death of Desdemona. In the beginning, Iago details how he was passed up for a promotion by Othello.

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Iago’s powerfully disruptive insinuations torment Othello to fall precipitously into his intricate trap, believing in the prospect of Cassio and Desdemona’s fictitious affair. Through the use of linguistic techniques such as elliptical speech, subservient vocative choices and a hesitant tone, Iago is able to construct artful innuendoes to deceive and manipulate Othello. Supplementary to linguistic techniques, dramatic techniques such as dramatic irony reinforces Iago’s role as a two-faced villain, who is making a pretence of being Othello’s loyal ensign. Eventually, Iago’s villainy nature sows a seed of doubt in Othello that germinates into the murder of Desdemona. Through the characterisation of Iago as a notorious villain, Shakespeare is able to hold Iago’s actions accountable for the play’s tragic downfall, establishing a sense of powerlessness amongst the

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