The Motivation Of Lago In William Shakespeare's Othello

During the initial class reading and study of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Othello” I thought that the clear motive for Iago stemmed from his jealousy that he felt towards Michael Cassio and that he resented the general Othello for appointing Cassio over him. However, after studying and analysing several different critical analysis’ of “Othello” I came to the conclusion that the real motive for Iago is actually one of the more debated topics in all of literature. And as such have chosen the hypothesis that Iago’s true motive is a ruthlessly debated topic, with the consensus opinion of his motive often changing with the time period. I studied 4 main critics, these being Leslie Y. Rabkin & Jeffrey Brown (1973), William Maginn (1839),

A sadist is defined as someone who generates pleasure from hurting others, this mold fits Iago perfectly as from the beginning of the play to the end we see no real remorse or regret from Iago, as Othello spirals deeper and deeper out of control Iago seems to be not only unsympathetic but also ecstatic. In Rabkin and Brown’s analysis, Iago is often described as the type of Sadistic person who is so because he feels so much self contempt for himself that he must try and nullify it by making others feel as horrible and conflicted as him. “One such avenue of escape lies in the sadist's being able to successfully project his self-contempt. He will “blame, berate, and humiliate others” to avoid having to do the same to himself: “The more he despises others, the less he is aware of his own self-contempt.” They also delve into explaining that Iago may choose to lash out at others,such as Cassio and Othello in an attempt to preserve himself, he is afraid of people destroying his fragile ego by picking on Iago’s shortcomings, being cruel and sadistic is an escape for him from the ridicule upon him that he believes is

Maginn explores this idea effectively and also delves into the notion that perhaps Iago simply wants to become rich, If Cassio loses his role as lieutenant and Iago is promoted, then he will become a much richer and he believes happier man. Right at the beginning of the play, we start to see why this theory of jealousy being the real motive of Iago Is so popular “Forsooth, a great arithmetician, One Michael Cassio, a Florentine (A fellow almost damned in a fair wife) That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric, Wherein the toged consuls can propose.” This passage from Iago delves into the great depth of reasons as to why Iago feels resentment towards Cassio. Iago describes Cassio as “A great arithmetician…… that never set a squadron in the field”, this means that he sees Cassio as strategic planner who knows nothing of the real trials and tribulations of war and is as such unfit to fill the role of lieutenant to the moor. Iago himself however has lived his entire life on the battlefield. Iago believed he had a fair claim to the new position and was actually quite insulted by the fact that Cassio was appointed over him, as many other noblemen also