Iago's Jealousy And Figurative Language In Othello

William Shakespeare’s “Othello” was a great example to showcase sacrifices made by characters to accomplish revenge or obtain power. Shakespeare told the story of Othello, a tragic hero, who was manipulated by Iago, which motivated him to kill his own wife. From this story, Shakespeare’s main goal was to portray characters making sacrifices for their ambitions. From this play, Shakespeare puts forth the idea of sacrifice through pointing out the importance of reputation and how sacrifices must be made to silence the truth.

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

Often it is the dark side of human nature that brings a story to life, and there is no sounder proof of this than William Shakespeare’s masterpiece Othello. The tragedy of the Moor of Venice is inflicted by the cruelty of Iago, perhaps one of the most intriguing antagonists in literary history. Iago’s cruelty is a defining element of the play, in that it pushes the plot forward as the trigger for all of the major actions throughout the story, serves as the cause of the cruelty of others around him, and reveals the character of each person in the play through their responses to his cruelty.

In the book Othello, Iago is a very manipulating man, throughout the book he manages to manipulate three main people, Roderigo, Cassio, and Othello. He uses all their weaknesses to bring them down. Iago wants revenge on Othello, because Othello overlooks Iago and his abilities, so Iago manipulates these three characters to get back at Othello in the long run. He comes up with a very good plan to get each other to turn against one another. So in the end he ends up getting what he wanted, revenge. Many characters fall into Iago 's web of deception throughout the book.

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

Iago’s contribution to an unstable mood shapes the theme of the play because he demonstrates that Othello is being “swallowed” by his rancorous acts as Othello speaks in prose and Iago allowed himself to evolve deeper into jealousy. Iago continues to exact revenge on Othello and other people are being affected negatively as they fall with Othello. As Iago and Roderigo are fighting, Iago steps aside and says: “ Now, whether he kill Cassio,/or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,/ Every way makes my gain. Live Roderigo,/ he calls me to a restitution large/ of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him/… If Cassio do remain,/ he hath a daily beauty in his life/ that makes me ugly. And Besides, the Moor/ May unfold me to him.” (V.I.13-22) Iago is thinking of killing Roderigo because he might be a threat to him.

From the beginning of Othello, it becomes quite clear that Iago is upset and jealous of Othello’s choice as to who will be his lieutenant. Othello, the main character, is a general in the Venetian Army who makes the decision to give the position to a man by the name of Cassio. After learning of this news, Iago becomes quite jealous and angered that he wasn’t the one chose. Trying to get back at Othello, Iago and Roderigo make a visit to see Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, about Othello and Desdemona’s relationship. In the end however, nothing came out of Iago’s quest to affect Othello as the Duke decided that no trickery was

William Shakespeare uses imagery, as well as personification to paint a vivid image in the reader’s mind of how jealousy can completely shatter someone’s life In The Tragedy of Othello. Othello’s life transforms the second he steps into Cyprus. Iago’s motives are devastating as he plan’s to take Othello’s position, regardless of the cost. Iago plants the seed of deceit and unfaithfulness when he hints of an affair involving Othello’s love, Desdemona and Cassio. An overwhelming feeling of jealously takes a hold in Othello’s life. Othello is no longer the well spoken, and respected army general that everyone knew him to be, but instead a short tempered man with little respect for

In the beginning of the play, Othello is a good upstanding man. I know this because the Duke regards to Othello as Valiant (I,iii,56). Then as Iago manipulates him, he starts to become more aggressive and impulsive. For example, in act 3, scene 4, lines 103-114, Othello constantly calls for the handkerchief, until he storms out of the scene enraged. This shows how Othello starts to lose his calm and composure. Finally, By the end of the play, Iago has changed Othello so much, that he starts to display multiple personalities at the same time. For example when Ohello says, “I would not kill thy unprepared spirit. No, (heaven) forfend! I would not kill thy soul”.(VI,ii, 35) This quote shows the mix of personalities that Othello is displaying by the end of the

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

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

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.

As the play begins Othello is looking for a new Lieutenant. Iago has always been dependable to Othello, but he ends up overpassing the position to Cassio, who doesn 't know anything about war duties. Although Iago wants to exterminate Othello over of his jealousy of his popularity, he also wants to sabotage him because of the promotion that he thinks was mistaken, he uses Desdemona as a sin.

Shakespeare’s Othello begins with Iago, who is disgruntled because the rank of lieutenant was given to Michael Cassio rather than to himself, already causing trouble for those in Venice by screaming out claims of Othello’s wrongdoings. The operations of Iago are what carry the plot of Othello forward and are what lead many to the fallacy of Iago being the lead. The actual lead Othello follows the inherent traits of mankind creating decisions based on morality, but Iago is unyielding to moral judgment and intends to complete his agenda no matter the repercussions. Iago wishes to take revenge on Othello and Cassio for stripping him of the position that he believes that he had earned. However, Iago does not desire the revenge he carries out to be swift, but rather in a long meticulous fashion in order to enjoy the suffering of his adversaries to the fullest. An unhuman personality is what leads to excitement being received from odious actions. Iago has put his pleasure in wicked deeds above all else and is willing to give up everything in order to achieve it. Through his own speech Iago refers to the pleasure that he covets and even uses animals to further convey his feeling of superiority over others.

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.