Othello Article Response
Sam wood uses the theme of identity very strongly throughout the article where Iago lies (home, honesty, Turk). Key points leading to Iago’s identity crisis are manipulation, distrust, and misplacement/nonbelonging of home.
Sam woods findings state that for Iago The reflection of his identity must be better than all the others, and so he develops this elaborate scheme. He begins his scheming tactics by targeting Cassio, poisoning his mind with self-doubt, and manipulating his behavior and emotions. Iago puts doubt into Cassio about his own worth, causing him to feel he has failed. The article quotes “Iago puts it differently when he asks, "Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?” (Woods pg.5). Iago himself has lost sight of who he is. Iago harbors a hate towards Othello because he believes Othello has slept with his own wife, and so he manipulates those closest to Othello. This motivation, coupled with not getting his promotion, causes him to implement manipulative behavior within the play to destroy
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In Othello, the manipulation that Iago drags out causes all of the others to have distrust. The article points towards distrust towards Othello, Emelia, Desdemona, and an even greater distrust towards Iago. Iago builds upon the infidelity of Desdemona by using his own wife to produce misleading evidence. For Othello, his sense of belonging was to feel in control of his own standing, his wife, and his ranking. Being deceived would make him look nothing short of a fool. Woods comments, “it becomes possible to understand why Othello expresses his despair at Desdemona's suspected infidelity as a farewell to the "pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war!"(Woods pg.4). The article mentioned earlier that a sense of home and belonging creates honesty, and so when this honesty between Othello and Desdemona’s marriage is manipulated by Iago, it causes the resulting