Explore how Shakespeare Conveys the Charcter of Iago

It may be that we get to see a lot of Iago and hear about his plans, motives and thoughts but we never really get to now him as well as we think we do. Even though we get to know his feelings and thoughts in his few important soliloquies I think we are never totally convinced by Iago. Although he claims that his bitter hatred has manifested due to the fact that Othello gave Cassio a promotion, later on in the play he says that he thinks that Othello has slept with his wife even though he has no valid proof. He also says that he lusts after Desdemona because he wants to get even with Othello “wife for wife”. But I think that none of these reasons are very adequate for his deep hatred towards Othello. I also think that it isn’t a coincidence that Shakespeare has made Othello a black man. In the time period this was wrote, coloured people were not thought of as equals but as a “lower class”. So it was hard for coloured people to be accepted as equals let alone a higher rank than others. So Othello being a coloured man who is higher in rank and status than Iago who is a white man must have hurt his pride and been to an extent humiliating for someone who appears to be headstrong. Also Othello being married to Desdemona who is a wealthy white girl, where as Iago is married to Emilia who is Desdemona’s companion but seems not to be of the same stature of Desdemona’s family. I think that Shakespeare makes Iago’s main reason for hating Othello is because he is envious of him and Iago is racist. Further evidence for Iago being racist towards Othello is that when Othello isn’t around he uses derogative comments towards Othello such as: “Thick lips”, “the old black man”, “devil” are just some terms Iago uses to refer to Othello.

Othello is different to other Shakespeare plays because it brings up the issue of whether the play is racist or not. I believe that the play is racist. I think that the main character Othello is very stereotyped. He is a black man who has done very well in the army since he was a very good solider so he has been promoted. This trait of his, contributes to him being a stereotype. Also he is portrayed to have a very short temper, a big sense of pride and very gullible. Because of these things I believe that Shakespeare has used a stereotype for his main character. But what we have to consider is that at the time this was the common thought of most people in England. So it wouldn’t have been seen to be wrong. But now people are more educated we know that it isn’t fair to stereotype, as everyone is different. I think for the fact that we are reading the play at a different time when it was written the play seems to be out of context due to this it comes across as a slightly racist play.

Since Othello was intended to be a play, it is only appropriate that it be looked as a piece of drama to get a true representation of what Shakespeare intended when he wrote the play. The part of the play that I am concentrating on is the same part that I have already analysed. As it is a soliloquy it can be done in two ways. Either he is talking to himself and unaware of the audience, or he could be talking to the audience directly. I think Shakespeare intended Iago to be talking directly to the audience as he opens as if he has read the audiences mind and questions how he is a villain. So it seems to me that Shakespeare creates a little bit of banter between the audience and Iago. When he does this I think that he could point at himself in a quizzical manner just to confirm what he is actually to saying. He then try’s to justify his statement. As I think that he is talking to the audience naturally he would be facing the audience and maybe walking slowly up and down then stage to show that he is in thought, this would give him something to do which will make it a little bit easier to concentrate on him as it would be harder if he was to just stand there as it would be more boring. He then carries on by talking about Desdemona and how she is framed as fruitful and how she is free as the elements. Here I think that Iago could actually make little signs with his hand showing what he is saying such as making a frame with hands when he talks about how she is framed as fruitful. He carries on and when he says all seals and symbols of redeemed sin he could make a symbol such as a cross or if he is wearing a cross on a necklace he could hold it or even make a cross sign with his hand. Also when he again questions how he is a villain he could shrug suggesting that he is genuinely puzzled even though the audience knows he is not. When he comments about Cassio being on a parallel course he could make a gesture with his hands showing the parallel course Cassio is on.  When Iago talks about pouring pestilence into Othello’s ear he could pretend to be poring something. When he says: “so will I turn her virtue into pitch” he could get something white like a handkerchief and make it turn black, representing the transformation. Then he could end it by holding his hand open and then slowing clenching his fist symbolising the net that shall enmesh them.

Another way Shakespeare conveys the Character of Iago is by having different characters so that the audience can compare them and their actions. The person I am going to compare with Iago is going to be Othello. First of all Othello is black where as Iago isn’t. In a normal situation in the time period this was wrote Othello would have been thought as a lesser man than Iago due to the racist manner of the time. But because of Othello’s position he is respected more, rather than if he wasn’t as high up as he was. One way we can compare both of these characters is through their actions. Both of these characters kill their wives but for different reasons. Othello killed Desdemona because he thought she was having an affair with Cassio, but the reason he thought this was because of Iago’s excellent manipulating skills. Iago killed his wife because she exposed him as the villain that was behind all of the treachery. This is the main thing Othello really does. But Iago does far more as he steals money from his so called friend, Rodrigo. He plans to get fired which is successful. He plans to get either or both Rodrigo and Cassio killed. He gets Desdemona killed by Othello by convincing him that she is having an affair with Cassio. He also lies and deceives everyone around him including his wife Amelia. This conveys Iago as very evil, immoral and manipulative. Othello is conveyed as gullible, a very proud and a very masculine character.

Another way you could get an idea of what the characters are like is by using the things others say about them. From what others say about Othello we get the idea that he is a brave and honourable man who is well respected by others apart from Iago (who is bitter about Cassio getting a promotion rather than him and also suspects that Othello has slept with his wife), Rodrigo (who dislikes Othello as he wanted to marry Desdemona) and Brabantio (who is hostile towards Othello as he is a black man who has married his daughter with out his permission). But getting an image of Iago from other people is very misleading as Shakespeare makes many characters of his say that Iago is honest and honourable. The reason Shakespeare does this is to show that Iago has mastered the art of deception and has put it into full effect. Soliloquies also show us a lot about the characters. In one of Othello’s soliloquy he is wrestling with the thought of Desdemona cheating, his pride, his love and affection. Here we realise that all of these things mean a great deal to him and he finds it very difficult to priorities them. The reason being that Iago has implemented thoughts into Othello’s mind such as that she has already deceived Brabantio and she could do it to him. What confirms that Othello feels a lot for Desdemona is that he takes Desdemona having an affair very badly as he feel a lot for her, if he didn’t react in this way it would have shown that their relationship really didn’t mean much to him, also it would have been out of character. But Shakespeare making Othello the character he is it would only be natural that he couldn’t put his love for Desdemona in front of the fact that she supposedly had cheated on him and this has damaged his pride and reputation, so the only option is to kill her. Othello then get more worked up about it as the thought of Desdemona having an affair starts to eat him up and as a consequence he begins to loathe Desdemona. This consequents in him murdering Desdemona. Othello who had once been a very proud General had now had his primal exposed because of his fatal trust in Iago. All of these things present Othello as a stereotyped black man. But soon after he has realised that he has done the wrong thing we then see the Othello we are familiar with. As he immediately knows that he has done wrong and knows he can’t undo it. Again he is deeply hurt as he knows he has hurt the woman he loved for know fault of her own. Here we see the caring side of Othello. He then states that he cannot live with the shame of killing his wife and then kills himself. This again shows that he has a lot of pride. One reason I believe that Othello is such a proud man is that Shakespeare has made him a black man who has done well for himself considering the racist nature of the times.

Iago’s has a fair few soliloquies which all expose his true character.  These soliloquies give the impression that he is evil, sly cunning, bitter and racist. The reason he is bitter is due to his supposed motives, that Cassio got a promotion and he felt that he deserved it. Also he suspects Othello had slept with his wife. He is sly because he reveals lots of incriminating evidence such as he is only using Rodrigo for his money and all his plans to destroy Othello and Cassio. Also in his soliloquies he reveals his racist side as he uses derogative comments towards Othello such as: “thick-lips”, “the Moore”, “the old black ram”, “devil” and many more. What is also revealed in his soliloquies when he reveals his plans is that he only thinks of himself. He is conveyed like this as he doesn’t take in account how his actions will effect everyone as he doesn’t really care as long as he achieves what he intended to, its fine by him if someone gets hurt and they are innocent. An example is that he appeals to Rodrigo by appealing to his attraction towards Desdemona and then using him for his money and making him do all his dirty work. Also he makes his Amelia get the handkerchief for him. In Iago’s soliloquies get a true insight to what his character is, which is manipulative, sly, bitter, immoral and evil.

Overall Shakespeare uses a number of different ways to convey Iago’s character. But all give the same answers when put into context. Iago is a character that is very complex and clever, probably one Shakespeare’s most complex and clever villains, because of this he intrigues the reader. It seems that he has the ability to say the right thing at the right time, which gives him control of the situation, therefore granting him power, something most people desire. His motives seem questionably and yet he is intent to carry out his evils deeds. He seems to have the same racist ideas as the public at the time. Although I can explore how Iago is conveyed, I think that I will never be able to understand such a complex villain.