Iago's Cruelty In Othello

In the play Othello, Iago represents Marxist criticism through his pursuit of power that fuels his need for deceit in the story. He manipulates and deceives the other characters throughout the entire play. For instance when he set Cassio up with drinking the alcohol he got exactly what he wanted out of that, Cassio lost his rank as Lieutenant. Desdemona, Othello, and Roderigo were all deceived by Iago. Desdemona was deceived into thinking that she was helping a strong and noble man even though Iago was using that time to set her up. Othello was fed lies that his wife and Lieutenant were having an affair, leading up to the death of himself along with his wife. Roderigo was blinded by the love he had for Desdemona so badly that he helped Iago

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 the beginning of the novel, Shakespeare describes Iago as a mastermind of manipulating others. Iago holds a grudge and resentment towards the Moor, Othello, because another soldier, lieutenant Cassio, has been promoted

Shakespeare’s Othello chronicles the downfall of a noble Moor, Othello, who is deceived by a man he considers his friend, Iago. Throughout the course of the play, Iago toys with Othello and eventually leads him to murder and lose his love, his new wife Desdemona. Iago exploits the unquestioned trust Othello places in him to achieve evil ends. As such, trust is a central theme in the story. In this paper, I will explore the contributing factors as to why Othello places more trust in Iago than he does his wife.

According to theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” An act considered evil must consist of intent to harm one in any form. William Shakespeare’s world-renowned play, Othello, The Moor of Venice, illustrates a tragedy while including villainy, which further complicates the dramatic piece of literature. Each character in the play has a roll in which they act the victim of Iago’s devious plan to destroy Othello and Desdemona’s marriage whilst portraying accomplices as well. Iago’s dishonesty with others creates a diversity of scenarios in which his vengeful deeds of wicked intention emerge as evil.

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.

“Othello” written by William Shakespeare revolves around this protagonist who is depicted as strong and powerful. To everyone he is known as Othello or the Moor. Throughout the play, Shakespeare portrays numerous counts of jealousy and manipulation around many of the characters. It is mainly illustrated through Iago, the antagonist of the play, who manipulates other to their downfall. Iago who is known for always being true and honest towards others has easily earned the trust of everyone around him, thus giving himself an advantage on his schemes. Among some of the crucial characters who were targeted by Iago’s manipulative plans are Othello, Cassio, and Rodrigo. Due to everyone trusting in him he is able to know their feebleness and specifically their personalities. Each of these male characters have different personalities and knowing them can be useful to Iago in his hope of completely fooling them in thus ruining their names and making everyone turn on each other.

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

When people of one race believe themselves to be superior to those of another, only catastrophe can result. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, racism was extremely prevalent, and white supremacy was much more pronounced. In William Shakespeare’s play Othello, both covert and overt racism, assimilation, and jealous dispositions all foreshadow the untimely death of Desdemona and Othello.

In the city of Venice Iago , an ensign in the Venetian army, is furious about not getting the promotion for position of lieutenant, but it went to a soldier named Cassio.Iago thinks that Cassio is less capable of being a soldier than himself . Iago tells his friend, Rodrigo, a Venetian, he serves Othello, the Moor who is a general in the Venetian army .Iago knows that Othello has secretly married Desdemona, the daughter of a of nobleman Brabantio who is a senator and renowned citizen of Venice, whom Rodrigo loves Desdemona and asked her father’s hand in marriage which Iago is aware of. With Iago’s hatred towards Othello, he tells Rodrigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage.Iago manipulates Roderigo to tell Brabantino about his

Psychopaths have attributes of detachment, insincere speech, selfishness, and violence. In the tragedy, Othello, the playwright William Shakespeare constructs an antagonist with such traits. This evil character, Iago, is known for being one of the most sinister villains Shakespeare has even written. Through Iago’s psychopathic manipulations and detached persona, Shakespeare shows that psychopaths are not redeemable in the play.

During the Elizabethan Era, drama began to flourish in Western Europe. Plays have become more violent and dramatic as well as new ways of driving a performance. William Shakespeare’s Othello involves a man named Iago who wants to get revenge on Othello who is known as ‘the Moor of Venice’. Iago is able to get Othello to fully trust him and manipulates Othello to believe in false claims which eventually brings both of them to their downfall. A soliloquy acts as an aid to the audience in order to understand a character’s internal thoughts. Shakespeare utilizes this technique frequently throughout the performance especially for the antagonist for the play, Iago. The soliloquies enhance Iago’s villainous characteristics by giving him moments to

The following passage is significant to the play ‘Othello’ in retrospect to the plot progression, as it reiterates themes and introduces important facets to the plot development. Through Iago’s cunning manipulation and Shakespeare’s crafting of language, this passage is constructed as a pivotal point of the play, marking the transition of Othello’s personality and revealing his deepest insecurities that eventually lead to his downfall and tragic ending.

Frank Prentice Rand explains and gives reasons for Iago’s behavior and how he is the villain of the play. Rand’s claims that Iago shows his true face and tells his entire plan only to the readers while everyone else in the play sees him as a trustworthy and clever man the readers already know his evil side. Iago’s primary motive to become evil and seek revenge is jealousy because he suspects that Emilia cheated on him with Othello leading him to seek justice and make Othello believe that Desdemona betrayed him, thorough Iago’s talkativeness to himself the readers are aware of the real Iago while the characters in the play know the real Iago until the end.

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.