“Zounds”;
and uses crude sexual and animal images to taunt Brabantio:
“an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”
By using the agricultural term for breeding or mating two beasts, Iago reduces the act of love to a basic action. Othello, in contrast, uses gentle and tender terms to describe his affection, and never mentions it as simply a physical act. He says:
“I love the gentle Desdemona”,
and this suffices to explain his feelings. It is obvious that Othello is a much ‘deeper’, more sensitive man than Iago.
Another contrast is that Iago’s motivation is himself and his self-interest. Iago desires success and gain for himself and no other. It appears that his major grudge against Othello is that he promoted “a fellow almost damn’d in a fair wife”
(that is, Cassio) above himself. He speaks bitterly about Cassio and his mathematical skills because of his self-interest - although to the audience it may seem reasonable that a highly skilled statistician ad tactician is given a higher posting. Another grudge is his suspicion of Othello that
“twixt my sheets he has done my office”
Iago has heard a rumour that Othello has slept with his wife, and now he wants revenge. But Iago does not feel betrayal by his wife, or feel that she has been wronged; it appears to be just another excuse to get back at Othello.
Whereas Othello does have a sense of self-interest, his interest in other people’s happiness is greater. When confronted with the idea that he has enchanted Desdemona, he replies that if it is true to
“let your sentence fall even to my life”.
He would rather be killed than know he is causing his love unhappiness. He would happily sacrifice everything for others - his sense of duty is strong. Whereas Iago is in the army for personal gain, promotion and recognition, Othello is in it for the greater good. Despite being on his honeymoon, he instantly agrees that he should go and fight in Cyprus for his Senate. Neither does he wish his wife to suffer, so he offers her a choice of following him or staying in safety. Othello is an honourable man.
Iago, on the other hand, is anything but honourable. He is always forming a devious plot for someone else’s undoing. He uses Roderigo as his pawn in revealing Othello’s whereabouts and as a source of money. The way he disappears into the shadows away from Brabantio’s lights is symbolic of his underhand nature. He is always deceiving whoever he is with by putting up a front of loyalty and amiability,
“I am not who I am”
then dashing his words with his actions. He summarises his tactics when he says, of his relationship with Othello:
“I follow him to serve my turn upon him”
Whilst Iago is a dual personality, Othello is constant. He is the same with everyone (except Desdemona - understandably, as they are married). He is open, bold and unafraid. He admits, when he says
“rude am I in my speech”
that he is no great orator, and this perhaps contributes to his honesty and open level with all other characters. He is
“unvarnished”,
as opposed to Iago, whom one could say is so ‘varnished’ that only the audience can see through all his layers to the deceit within.
Neither character is wholly positive. Whilst we recognise Iago as the ‘melodramatic’ villain, we can also see that Othello is not altogether good, and that his possessiveness of Desdemona could get the better of him and prove his downfall.
