Iago Character Analysis, Research Paper Example

There is no doubt that the eternal drama of Othello arouses deep feelings of mourn and regret in everyone who knows the story and sympathizes with the characters. The main participants of the drama are surely Othello, the ambitious and passionate moor who believed the wicked lies of his subordinate and killed the beloved woman, and Desdemona, his wife who loved him strongly and was to naive and happy to understand that the tragedy was approaching. However, when one conducts the analysis of Othello, it is easy to see that there is one more important and complex character that is actually the drive of the plot, without which nothing would have happened. Iago is the main reason for the tragedy that came into the classical literature and all events took place.

The role of Iago should never be underestimated because he was the major instigator, plotter and traitor of his master. He was so full of evil that he let his master kill an innocent woman; more than that, he motivated Othello to do this, intensifying the gossip against innocent people, Cassio and Desdemona, which cannot be explained in rational terms even in modern times. Nonetheless, it is too simplistic to state that Iago was doing this only because he was a necessary element of the plot and he represented the detail without which the tragedy would not have occurred. It seems evident that the character of Iago was much deeper than it may originally seem; for this reason he requires separate analysis to understand the realm of intrinsic motives that guided him on the path of destruction and murder by other people’s hands.

There are multiple theories of Iago’s motivation, and each of them has the right to exist due to lack of prevailing support for any of them. The first motive discussed in critical literature is the absence of any motives – Iago is just an amoral character who cannot find a faithful path in life and subdues to his innate dark passions. Some other reasons named are his envy towards Othello because of his leading position, the social roots of inequality that touch upon the strings of Iago’s ambitious soul, racism, and even jealousy because of Othello’s possible love affair with his wife. One more approach popular in criticism of Othello is to view Iago as evil embodied in a person (typical for Shakespeare’s works). Top identify support for each issue, one should review the plot thoroughly to find the guiding lines for each judgment.

The first passage that makes the reader aware of the hidden envy and disrespect of Iago towards Othello is as follows:

We cannot all be Masters, nor all Masters

Can be truely follow’d…

Were I the Moore, I would not be Iago:

In following him, I follow but my selfe…

…I am not what I am (I, i, 47-71).

These words obviously show the ill intent of Iago and absence of respect and owe towards the master he has; at the same time Iago tries to persuade his interlocutor, Rodrigo, and the reader that he is satisfied with his position of an inferior because in other way he would not have been able to achieve his vicious goals. He aims at the destruction of his master through a wicked plan, so he thinks over his scheme and wants to show that even a tiny subordinate can destroy the grand figure with the help of his secret, personal passions.

As it comes from the analysis, Iago treats Othello and especially his superior rank very negatively – here the social class theory of Iago’s hatred is revealed. He initially tries to persuade Brabantio in the ill intent of Othello concerning his daughter, but here he fails – Othello and Desdemona prove that they are happy together, and the outcome of this scene is positive for them. It is enough to consider the way Iago appeals to Brabantio in his first attempt to discredit Othello to see how racism motives are revealed in Iago’s attitude:

Because we come to do you seruice,

And you will thinke we are Ruffians, you’le have your Daugh-

Ter couere’d with a Barbary horse, you’le haue your Ne-

Phews neigh to you, you’le haue Coursers for Cozens:

And Gennets for Germaines (I, i, 121-126).

Finally, the motive of jealousy and revenge for the deceased wife may be felt in Iago’s mentioning of the gossip about Othello and his wife’s affair during Iago’s absence in town (Bloomfield):

I hate the Moore,

And it is thought abroad, that ‘twist my sheets

She ha’s done my Office. I know not if’t be true,

But I, for mere suspicion in that kinde,

Will do, as if for Surety (I, iii, 410-414).

And further in the same soliloquy, Iago continues to explain that his method resembles the one that now poisons his own life: driven by suspicions about whether his wife cheated on him with Othello or not, he suffers too strongly. For this reason he wants to make Othello suffer the same way:

After some time, to abuse Othello’s eares,

That he is too familiar with his wife:

He hath a person, and a smooth dispose

To be suspected: fram’d to make women false (I, iii, 418-422)

The skill of Iago to implement his plan into action is deeply welded in his ability to find weak places and secret fears of other people. Being sure that Othello passionately loves Desdemona and will not be jealous because of mere trifles, he starts a complicated campaign on raising doubts and suspicions in him. Knowing the military nature of the moor, he manages to sew the seed of mistrust that is killing Othello, making him rot from the inside, which finally results in the outrage of killing. The question is – why is Iago not suspected of intensifying the conflict when it is only developing? The answer is clear – he is a very reputable person and has a good reputation in the community. This cover helps him get trusted by Cassio, Desdemona and Othello and manipulate all of them. Iago hates Othello, but he is ready to conceal his feelings for the sake of destroying him further:

Though I do hate him as I do hell apines,

Yet, for the necessitie of present life,

I must show out a Flag, and signe of Love,

(Which is indeed but signe) that you shal surely find him

Lead to Sagitary and raised Search:

And there will I be with him. (I, i, 169-174).

There is one more fragment that can reveal the secret of Iago’s success: he considers his plot against Othello a battlefield. This point of view is also justifiable; it is enough to have a look at the situation in which Iago found himself upon returning: “despite having petitioned “three great ones of the city” to speak on his behalf, Iago loses the lieutenancy to a man he considers his inferior in both qualifications and experience” (Jacobsen 497). But the war is not over at that point for Iago – having been a skillful warrior in the real battlefield, he applies his knowledge of military tactics in the peaceful life the whole community leads. If to judge the secret of Iago’s success from this point, it becomes fairly possible to confess that Iago really exceeded Othello in military skills. However, the softening circumstance was that Othello could be a wonderful lieutenant when he knew that the war was going on, but he was absolutely helpless at home, with his beloved wife, when he did not even realize that certain partisan actions are being taken against him and his family.

One more trait that helps Iago achieve his evil goal and remain unpunished up to the end, until the moment his planned tragedy takes place, is the fact that he perfectly knew the nature of both Desdemona and Othello. He clearly realized that in case the two lovers talked they would find the matter out and his plot would fail. More than that, his major role in the plot and lies would be revealed, which was too dangerous for Iago who knew the explosive character of Othello. For this reason he remained perfectly persuasive with both victims of his vicious plan:

“Iago’s success lies, in a great part, in his ability to cheat everyone and be thanked for it. Desdemona is, of course, far to suspect that Iago is the filter through which all her actions are re-interpreted so as to fit into his plan, composing a frame that will be filled by Othello’s suppositions” (Casellas 187).

The evil genius of Iago is too strong for the characters to figure it out: he is respectful towards Desdemona, trying to help her in the attempt to restore Cassio in service; he is respectful and helpful for Othello who is not used to expecting troubles for his servants. In addition, Othello is bribed by the wish of Iago to help clarify the issue of Desdemona’s faithfulness, which is a private business Othello does not trust to anyone else, which is also a positive sign for Iago. It is hard to say that this character is the pure embodiment of evil because he is too driven with numerous passions: he is jealous and envious, he is happy when his tricks succeed and he worries when they fail.

He is not an ordinary person because he has no morale and remorse; he is a very wise strategist – in other way he would have never managed to arrange the events the way he had done. Nonetheless, the conclusion possible to be made from the present analysis is that he was an extraordinary villain who possessed his personal motives of envy and jealousy, succeeding because of his dual nature embodied in the words “I am not what I am”. He succeeded only because of his skill of pretense, because a worse actor would have been recognized at the beginning of the tragedy. It was the strategy and the ability to cover true emotions that helped Iago succeed, and evil that he had inside of his dark soul was nurtured by the same suspicions that he raised in Othello, in addition to envy about his inferiority.

Works Cited

Bloomfield, Jem. ‘Iago’s Motivation: The Reasons Behind the Villain in Shakespeare’s Othello’. 2007. 16 May 2010. <http://shakespeareantheatre.su ite101.com/article.cfm/iagos_motivation>

Casellas, Jesús López-Peláez. ‘The Inevitable Death of Desdemona: The Conflict between Will and Reason”. University of Granada. Proceedings of the II Conference of SEDERI: 1992: 167-179.

Jacobsen, Ken. ‘Iago’s Art of War: The “Machiavellian Moment” in Othello’. Modern Philology 106.3 (Feb 2009): 497–529.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Classic Books Company, 2001.