ipl-logo

Iago Character Analysis Essay

797 Words4 Pages

In Shakespeare 's play Othello, the character Iago is a manipulative individual. Iago disguises as a trustworthy ensign and friend. He is deceptive and manipulative villain. He creates chaos and causing accidents to other characters for revenge. Iago uses his skillful and smart strategic acts of manipulation to undermine each characters weaknesses. He exploits Roderigo’s love for Desdemona, persuades Cassio under the appearance of friendship, and plays with Othello’s mind by playing on his self-doubt. Iago plays with Roderigo’s gullibility, Cassio’s trusting nature, and Othello’s insecurity, against them. Roderigo‟s obsession and lust for Desdemona concentrates him vulnerable to Iago’s manipulation. His love for Desdemona causes him to believe …show more content…

Lastly, Iago plays on Othello‟s personal insecurities to bring about his downfall. Othello is notably an outcast, being the black man in a white society. he is referred to as “The Moor”, with his skin colour resulting in unfavorable preset assumptions and prompting the association of savage animalistic characteristics. Even more so, his relationship with Desdemona is “in a period when such a marriage would be rare and controversial” As a result of society‟s prejudice, Othello‟s self-esteem diminishes, allowing Iago to capitalize on his insecurity to invoke the feeling of jealousy in Othello. To start off, Iago insinuates that Desdemona is unfaithful to Othello, as she prefers only people of her „type‟, a class Othello will never belong. Iago convincingly states: “As, to be bold with you,/Not to affect many proposed matches/Of her own clime, complexion, and degree,/Whereto we see in all things nature tends” saying that Desdemona would prefer Cassio, who is like her in age, race, and classIago states: “She did deceive her father, marrying you,/And when she seemed to shake and fear your looks,/She loved them

Show More
Related

  • Iago's Cruelty In Othello

    570 Words  | 3 Pages

    The cruelty Iago is able to incite in Othello and Roderigo reveals their deep passions and overwhelmingly trusting natures. The fact that Othello is so vulnerable and susceptible to Iago’s poisoning sheds light on his lurking insecurities about age, race and appearance, which Othello is ultimately unable to ignore. Likewise, Roderigo’s willingness to sacrifice all money and morals by Iago’s bidding reflects his naive passions and an overall lack of personal strength. In stark contrast with Othello and Roderigo, Desdemona, the primary victim of Iago’s cruelty and yet the only one who dies completely unaware of it, turns out, somewhat ironically, to be the only one whose inner self is completely unaffected by Iago. On the eve of her death, even after being horribly mistreated by Othello, she firmly upholds her values of loyalty and obedience, and her belief that no woman would ever wrong her husband.

    Read More

  • Othello Passage Analysis

    923 Words  | 4 Pages

    Iago uses very clever methods of persuasion and manipulation aimed to use Othello’s hamartia against him, pointing out that “ “She (Desdemona) did deceive her father, marrying you,” so much so that Brabantio “thought ’twas witchcraft”. Through this, Iago is subtly raising the issues of Othello’s cultural differences with Desdemona; a root cause behind Othello’s insecurities with his wife – along with inadequacy due to race, degree of sophistication and age. As Iago prompts Othello to think the worst, his utterances are short and uneasy, revealing the beginning to his downfall, whilst Iago’s dialogue is at length highlighting his growing power of

    Read More

  • Growth Mindset Quotes In Othello

    879 Words  | 4 Pages

    He tells him that she is having an affair with Cassio so that she is having intercourse with Othello. Iago shows signs of fixed mindset. His mind is fixed on getting revenge on Othello so he comes up with a “evil” plan to destroy Othello’s life. Iago is motivated by hate because he didn't move on from the thought that Othello is doing wrong by Desdemona. “ I hate the moor” ( Act 1 Scene 1 Line 171-174) .

    Read More

  • Comparing Love In The Great Gatsby And Othello

    1316 Words  | 6 Pages

    Iago is planting the seeds for Othello’s relationship with Desdemona to crumble by putting images into Othello’s head about women and generalizing all women saying that they all act upon their temptations with no remorse. In these lines said by Othello, he is showing how someone’s deceit (having to do with his love for his wife) can really go as far as to make him criticize a whole entire gender based on one idea that his Desdemona has been unfaithful—and he does not even have proof that this accusation is true. Secondly, Iago successfully alters Othello’s pure and true love for Desdemona so much that his once fulfilling

    Read More

  • Betrayal In Othello

    1477 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare we are introduced to Othello who is the protagonist and faces a lot of obstacles, one of them being betrayal. Throughout the whole play we witness betrayal from many of the characters through their irrational behavior and actions. However the biggest betrayal we see is from Iago, who is the antagonist, in other words, the villain of the play. Iago plans on having his revenge and betraying Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Rodrigo and even his wife, Emilia. Betrayal is wrong and something that can’t be forgiven, at the end betrayal breaks friendships as well as lives and trust which never works out well in the end.

    Read More

  • Overt Racism In Othello

    1097 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Example Of Mistrust In Othello

    773 Words  | 4 Pages

    In William Shakespeare’s Othello the two main characters are Iago and Othello. The entire story centers around Iago 's plan to achieve revenge on Othello for not promoting him to lieutenant. Throughout the story Iago tries to convince Othello that his wife Desdemona has cheated on him with his lieutenant Cassio. Iago’s plan is successfully and easily executed. Othello is tricked into believing that desdemona has been unfaithful and in the end he kills her.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Manipulation In Othello

    944 Words  | 4 Pages

    Manipulation is shown in many ways such as politics, the media, misleading information and false advertising. To convey one’s thoughts to your own advantage is seen as crude and unnecessary. However, many people have their reasons in manipulating someone whether they are good or bad. In Shakespeare’s Othello, the concept of taking advantage of someone through manipulation leads to unnecessary, horrible events.

    Read More

  • Iago And Richard III Analysis

    1826 Words  | 8 Pages

    Kolin observes that Iago stands out among Shakespearean villains since he is the only one to survive his own monstrous acts (25). Unlike Richard III, apart from telling stories, Iago carries out a downright fraud through other means of manipulation, which makes him the most evil and intelligent character. To be exact, Iago is a puppeteer who sets up scenes to deceive the “credulous fools”—Othello, Cassio and Desdemona (4.1.45). Iago talks to Cassio about Bianca while telling Othello that the subject of their conversation is the Moor’s wife. He is so smart and careful that he even gestures Othello to come closer when Cassio is about to illustrate how Bianca entangles him.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Dishonesty In Othello

    750 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play Othello, William Shakespeare creates an elaborate tragedy with various in depth characters, enhancing the story with powerful characterization. Iago, the main antagonist of Othello, exemplifies Shakespeare’s use of characterization to create in depth and complex characters. Using his manipulative nature, intellectual mind, egotistical attitude, and dishonesty, Iago controls the other characters in order to achieve his goal, leading Othello to succumb to an overwhelming jealousy causing his downfall. In order for Iago to gain control of the characters in the play, he manipulates Othello, Roderigo, Cassio, and more to believe false information and turn on one another.

    Read More

  • Othello Act 3 Scene 3 Analysis

    982 Words  | 4 Pages

    As a scheming villain, Iago begins to ensnare Othello into his trap of vengeance by echoing in Othello’s mind prospect of an affair between Cassio and Desdemona. Iago begins his insinuations by reminding Othello that Cassio served as their go-between during their courtship through a rhetorical

    Read More

  • Iago's Influence On Othello

    436 Words  | 2 Pages

    Iago is a unique and complicated character. He is intelligent in that he is able to manipulate people and events in his favour, which he thrives on throughout the play, classifying him as the antagonist of the play. Driven by jealousy and hatred, Iago plots against Othello to destroy his character and reputation. Knowing that if he foolishly attacked such a respected man directly, he would be sentenced to death. As a result, he devises to use other people to obtain what he desires by influencing the characters in the play to suit his plan.

    Read More

  • The Dark Side Of Human Nature In Shakespeare's Othello

    517 Words  | 3 Pages

    He is jealous of Othello, show in, “I confess it is my shame to be so fond/but it is not in my virtue to amend it” (1.3:316-317). Roderigo is desperate for Desdemona and Iago takes advantage of this and makes him do thing such as kill Cassio. Roderigo does all of Iago’s dirty work and makes his plan successful. Also, Roderigo is unintelligent and realizes too late that his “money is almost spent” (2.3:364-368). Iago makes several false promises to Roderigo and he does not expose Iago because he is desperate for love.

    Read More

  • Iago Manipulation In Othello

    708 Words  | 3 Pages

    In many stories, there are villains who seem to control how the characters act by manipulation. These kinds of villains use multiple techniques to get what they want and to execute their plans. The techniques are used to affect the characters in a negative way in favor of the villain. In Othello, the antagonist Iago, plays that role. Iago affects the characters’ lives in a negative way by his honest reputation, his ability to “read” people, and how he “proves” to be Loyal.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Destructive Revenge In Shakespeare's Othello

    1007 Words  | 5 Pages

    When something goes to far normally we would end it however, that 's not what happened in the shakespeare play Othello. In the source “Destructive revenge in Othello” by Harry Keyishian it talks about the revenge that fueled the play as well as Iago’s true ambitions. Keyishian also talks about how Iago tricks almost everyone in order to get his sweet revenge. Once Iago Stabs his assumed friend Roderigo it’s clear revenge had been taken too far.

    Read More

More about Iago Character Analysis Essay

Open Document