Explore the Character of Iago

The first 200 words of this essay...

14th June 2004

English Coursework Othello

Explore the Character of Iago

This essay is about Iago and his relationship with other characters throughout the play. I think Iago has three qualities, which leads to death and destruction. Iago's jealousy of Cassio's promotion mentally affects him and is set out for revenge and slaughter. His jealousy builds up and his personality and emotions change, giving the play a savage ending. Another quality is his racism towards Othello, mainly at the beginning of the play.

Firstly, I'm going to focus on Iago's complaints about Othello promoting Cassio; this is when the jealousy starts to show. He obviously thinks Cassio has been promoted for all the wrong reasons, the main reason being Cassio's friendship with Othello. A quotation that shows a little bit of Iago's jealousy at the start of the play is "Forsooth, a great arithmetician, one Michael Cassio, a Florentine", in other words Iago thinks Cassio shouldn't have been promoted because he's from Florence and because of this Iago feel betrayed by Othello. Iago doesn't plot his jealousy he makes up his plans throughout the play. He instead starts to manipulate Othello's open nature to imply