Commentary on Key Passage from Othello

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Othello Commentary                                                                   Natasha Frost

        This passage is a crucial part of the play, not only because it helps the audience to understand Iago’s relationship with Roderigo, but also because it provides a map for the rest of the play and offers some insight into Iago’s character. Iago’s brief soliloquy essentially exalts dishonesty and pretence, showing Iago’s disregard for truth telling. This is particularly ironic when one bears in mind that Shakespeare often refers to the character as ‘honest Iago’, indicating his common preoccupation with appearance versus reality concept.  In fact, in this passage, Iago is being truly honest with Roderigo, demonstrating his lack of respect for the character. It is almost as if, through telling him the truth, he is indicating his disdain for him and that he considers him to be below making up stories for. Iago also indicates his derision for the truth in his description of some servants: ‘Whip me such honest knaves!’

        The passage begins with Iago’s explanation of his relationship with Othello: he claims that his service to Othello is founded not in desire to fulfil his master’s wishes but ‘to serve [his] own turn upon [Iago].’ He has no love for Othello but merely wishes to ‘line his coat’. In addition to this, despite extolling his own abilities at deception, he seems to ridicule Othello for not realising Iago’s natural inaptitude at servility. In the line ‘Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago’, he explains that if he were Othello, he would not hire him as his servant, although this phrase may in fact be a shot at depth designed to impress the gullible Roderigo. His usage of the word ‘Moor’ also indicates his racist tendencies toward Othello.

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        The passage is a text of comparisons: Iago first describes two sorts of masters, then two sorts of servants. He believes that not all men are natural leaders and that those who are not do not warrant devotion or ‘[true] following’. We can infer from this that he does not think Othello a suitable master, as Iago evidently does not follow him truly. He also mentions two sorts of servants: the first ‘obsequious’ and sycophantic, embracing servility and essentially cast off when no longer useful or necessary. Shakespeare reduces these servants almost to animals with the simile ‘like his master’s ...

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