Iago Character Analysis The play “Othello” by William Shakespeare tells the story of Othello, a black Moor (Turk) and Desdemona, his wife, a white Venetian lady, torn apart by Iago who manipulates characters in the play in order to seek vengeance. Manipulation has been utilized in the play by different characters to deceive and gain an advantage. Iago, a compassionless and cruel man with a heart of stone manipulates good-natured minds to become as vile as a criminal's mind. Iago was jealous of Othello
all those around him. Iago displays evilness because he possesses no true motive for hurting Othello and he manipulates others’ weaknesses to accomplish his own goals. Also, his vile demeanor contributes to Othello’s undoing. Iago’s evil nature causes him to feel the desire to bring devastation to other people’s lives. Despite offering many motives for his actions, Iago is a malicious character because he hurts others merely for the pleasure of causing pain. To begin, Iago claims his reason for hating
Iago is William Shakespeare’s most elaborate evil villain. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago plays a masterful role in the destruction of all the major characters, truly making him one of the most infamous evil villains. His cruel, coldhearted manipulation is primarily directed towards the innocent; this exploitation of the good by evil ultimately causes the downfall of Roderigo, Cassio, Desdemona, Emilia, and Othello. Iago’s ability to understand human nature makes him evil because he uses
language choices for Iago and Othello. Language is carefully crafted to make the play more compelling. The text is written in such a way that the audience can look past characters appearances and question what it is to be human. The play puts us within a play as we are forced to watch Iago’s deception of Othello as he devolves and becomes jealous. Thus causing is downfall and loss of moral reputation. The audience is challenged to consider if we can really know anyone at all and how well could be contain
Shakespeare, the handkerchief serves as tangible evidence for Iago to convince Othello that Desdemona has been having an affair with Cassio. Although it had a limited appearance in the novel, the strawberry embroidered handkerchief turns Othello’s suspicions of Cassio and Desdemona’s alleged affair into full blown hatred and represents, in Othello’s eyes, the loss of love and the birth of betrayal. Without the presence of the handkerchief, Iago does not have a physical, damning argument that will take his
progresses, Iago the villain in the play, manipulates Othello by gaining his trust and injects him with the poisonous seeds of hate and jealousy. Thus, the great love between the couple fades away as hatred, jealously and revenge takes over Othello – which only ends after he murders his wife. Iago’s character is very diabolical from the beginning of the play and it is analyzed that Iago’s motivation for wrecking Othello’s happiness and his life arises solely from hate. Directly, Iago does no harm
Roles in Othello and King Lear The use of functionally similar characters is frequent to Shakespeare’s tragedies as they are used to develop similar structure to the plot. In the case of the villains from Othello’s, Iago, and Edmund from King Lear, these characters functionally create the same discourse through their actions. Both characters begin from a social stature of a subordinate and gain motive to rebel against their master. Iago resents not being promoted to his deserving position and Edmund
provides an edge to the readers because they may know certain things that the characters might not. There are three types of irony: situational, verbal, and dramatic. All three are used in Shakespeare’s Othello. Iago is the play’s main antagonist but almost in a way where he could arguably be the main character. Iago plays off as a trustworthy and honest person to the other characters in the play. This is ironic because he manipulates others to work in his favor to try to get revenge against Othello. Othello
I strongly agree that Iago is a character of, “Motiveless Malignity” as it evokes him. William Shakespeare constructed Iago as one of the most narcissistic and intrusive character in Othello .He is thought of as compelling as the reliance that Othello gives to him and in which he is disloyal to Othello. As Samuel Coleridge stated that Iago was, “Motiveless Malignity”, connotes that when Iago became misogynistic, he did not apprehend what the result will become; nevertheless he endured his vengefulness
the evil mastermind, Iago, is not who he seems to be. While Iago keeps his true identity a secret, he uses his words as poison to manipulate the thoughts, emotions, and actions of the characters. Iago utilizes his credibility to gain others’ trust by convincing them that he’s honest and trustworthy. That is he made others believe he is honest and his words are true. Specifically, by describing Othello and Desdemona’s relationship as “a black ram tupping [a] white ewe,” Iago appeals to Brabantio’s