It is Iago who starts off with soliloquies in the first few acts. Iago uses a soliloquy at the conclusion of Act One and addresses the audience. The audience would react differently to the character of Iago than Othello as Iago addresses the audience in his soliloquies whereas Othello never interacts with the audience himself. It is only later in the play when Iago’s manipulation of Othello is starting to have an effect on him does he also begin to soliloquise and talk to the audience however Othello doesn’t have a soliloquy in the first two acts of the play which shows he is still in control of himself and Iago isn’t in control of him yet.
Iago’s uses different themes of imagery. One theme of imagery he uses is that of poison which he frequently refers to. The fact that Iago uses imagery of poison is ironic because he himself is like a poison; infecting everything he touches. Iago says that his desire for revenge is so great it "doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards." Iago's use of language is a primary weapon in manipulating Othello. By "pour[ing] this pestilence into his ear", Iago contaminates and poisons Othello’s thoughts and is able to manipulate him. Iago also uses bestial imagery, especially in his cynical view of Othello and Desdemona’s elopement. Iago crudely tells Brabantio in Act 1 Scene 1 that his "daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." Another theme of imagery that Iago uses is his imagery of heaven and hell. Iago, who is Machiavellian in nature and revels in the tormenting of others, can be perceived as the devil personified or at least is the closest thing to the devil in this play. Iago can see this himself as he acknowledges this when he says "devils will the blackest sins put on...suggest at first with heavenly shows / As I do now." Any references made to heaven and hell by Iago or other characters is then ironic as they unknowingly are unable to see what Iago is really up to and see how manipulating he is being. Several references to heaven and hell include “hell and night must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.” Also later in the play Iago is able to manipulate Othello so that Desdemona looks “devilish” to him and he has to bring her to “justice”. Much of Iago’s imagery is also that of common earthly things such as household chores and gardening.
In comparison to Iago’s lowly imagery, Othello’s uses grand imagery of the heavens at the beginning of the play such as “let the labouring bark climb hills of seas, Olympus-high, and duck again as lo as hell’s from heaven”. Before he is corrupted by Iago Othello’s imagery is pure, unlike his Ancient’s, and it is usually of grand high things such as the heavens. Later in the play Othello’s imagery becomes corrupted by Iago’s and he begins to use Iago’s uses of imagery such as the animal imagery Iago likes to use where in one scene, convinced of his wife's infidelity, Othello loses all self-control crying out "goats and monkeys," animals traditionally considered lascivious. This is again another example of Iago corrupting Othello’s thoughts, manipulating them and turning him against his wife as he has him disbelieve her.
Iago also likes to use little alliterative phrases such as ‘”framed to make women false” when speaking of Michael Cassio. Othello, after time, also begins to pick up these alliterative phrases and specific ways that Iago likes to speak and uses them for himself again further showing how deeply Iago is getting to Othello and changing the way he thinks.
There is a lot of dramatic irony in the way the character of Iago is presented. Iago presents himself as friends to everyone whilst going behind everybody else’s back. He never lets anybody see his true colours apart from the times when he is telling Rodrigo about how much he hates the Moor. All of the other characters in the play refer to Iago as “honest” as that is what they believe he is. They don’t see him for the manipulative and deceiving man he is as he is careful not to slip up and give anything of his schemes away. Othello is seen as the respectful commander who is brilliant at his job and to be depended on if Venice wants to win the war against Turkey.
Iago very often gets to have the last say in most scenes, usually with a soliloquy. A reason for this could be to show the power that Iago has over the other unknowing characters and how he is able to manipulate them all so much that he is able to sit at the end of some scenes telling the audience what he is plotting. Although Othello is the high commander in the army and Iago’s boss he still doesn’t get to have the last say in most scenes as he himself is being lied to and manipulated by Iago so although he is more important than Iago he can not see what he is doing and is ultimately at Iago’s mercy.
