Iago's Personality

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Within Shakespeare’s famous tragic play Othello, he clearly communicates the idea of hiding one’s true colours through false appearances. He displays this through the character Iago, an artful mastermind who shows us how he hides his true self from other characters and himself through his manipulative and corrupt conduct. Sigmund Freud’s vast theories on projection, the unconscious mind and the psyche all assist the reader to understand and perceive Iago's overriding motives which I believe were race, jealousy and self hatred for his attempt to hide his accurate self. One of the first instances in the play where we see Iago start to project himself and his anger towards Othello and other characters is in Act 1 Scene 3. Iago calls out to Brabantio…show more content…
Which raises this idea that Iago had to have had some sort of logical explanation for getting inside Othello’s head, manipulating and convincing him that his faithful wife Desdemona was having an affair with one of Othello’s closest companions; Cassio. Iago has not necessarily come to terms with this hidden appearance and so he projects his dire hatred and jealously onto Othello subconsciously as Sigmund Freud’s theory on projection states that “This involves individuals attributing their own thoughts, feeling and motives to another person”.I believe that his self hatred unveiled when we realise that he is greatly jealous of Cassio obtaining the position of Lieutenant over him, jealous of Othello; believing that he has bedded his wife and of Othello passing him in the ranks to a very powerful position, despite his
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