Mad, bad or just plain jealous?

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Sam Cocksworth

Mad, bad or just plain jealous?

The title of the play is Othello, so why have critics spent so many years studying Iago? Why is he such an interesting character? I find Iago an extremely clever and incredibly cunning character; he can manipulate people like nobody else and he manages to make Othello’s life a living hell without even seeming to try. A motive that is noticed throughout the whole of the play is jealousy. I plan to look at three questions: Could Iago have been evil? Was Iago motivated by a paricular motive? Did Iago have a personality disorder? I will then bring my ideas to a conclusion on why I think Iago behaved like he did.

Evil

Iago may have been jealous of Cassio and also annoyed at Othello for not being made lieutenant, in the first scene we can see that Othello made Cassio his lieutenant, and Iago told Roderigo that he deserved this place. We can see that Roderigo believes Iago that that this is the source of his hatred towards Othello. However it is hardly convincing when he says ‘I know my price’, Iago is saying that he feels he is the best man for the job and he knows that, but this does not come across as particularly strong as the word ‘price’ is a financial word and does not have much emotion. Roderigo does not notice this because of the previous things Iago says, which makes it sound more convincing:

        Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

        In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,

        Off-capp’d to him: and, by faith of man,

        I know my price, I am worth no worse a place.

                                                                (Act 1, scene 1, lines 8-11)

Looking more closely at the word ‘price’, it may link to how objects are priced; objects are seen as empty and without a soul  - and so are evil people. This may suggest that Iago is evil and has no soul. which also shows that being annoyed at Othello is not this cause of his hatred. So could he be evil?

At the beginning of the play, when Iago hears about not being made lieutenant he states that ‘I am not what I am’ which shows that he is a deceitful character and not a person to trust. The saying from the Bible ‘I am what I am’ said by St Paul, and this shows that Iago is unchristian as he has completely turned around a Christian quote and made it an evil one. So this may lead us to believe that as Shakespeare was writing this he meant Iago’s behaviour to be the direct result of his evil nature. The fact that he was evil may have reflected the fear of witches in Shakespeare’s time – which was often shown through literature, In the play Iago manipulates people a lot, and he may actually get enjoyment from this which I think would suggest that he is pure evil. He is saying in (Act 1, scene 3, line 368) that there is no real need to associate and talk to Roderigo, and he simply does it for his personal enjoyment ‘For sport and profit’. Using the word ‘sport’ also implies that he enjoys doing it and sees it as a game. Even though Iago knows this is really making Roderigo suffer (as he loves Desdemona so much) he does it any way –and we get the idea that he is really evil and gets pleasure out of these evil deeds. He may also get enjoyment from manipulating Othello – for the revenge but also for the power. We can see that Iago may like to be evil as he may see himself as an evil priest; when he says to Roderigo ‘let thy soul be instructed’ (Act 2, scene 1, line 12) he is saying that he wants to give him instructions on what to do. But the word ‘soul’ is linked with religion and therefore sounds like something a priest would say and only a priest, so he is taking the role of a priest and using it in an evil way. So Iago tries to take control over Roderigo.

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Another way that Iago takes this sort of godly role is says he ‘will turn her virtue into pitch’, here he is referring to Desdemona and how he will turn her purity black. In Shakespeare’s time, the colour black was recognized or associated with the demonic, so this may be showing that he wants to make Desdemona look bad and like a demon to Othello. Black is also associated with death and so Iago may almost be turning life into death which is changing the godly role of turning death to life and makes Iago into even more of an ...

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