“The food that to him now is as luscious as locusts shall be to him shortly as acerbe as coloquintida.” (Ll.25-26)
Shakespeare uses this metaphor repeatedly throughout the play. Iago states later that Desdemona will “begin to heave with the gorge”, that she will grow sick of Othello as she has spent too much time with him and gave too much love for him. The same is being said here, but about Othello getting bored. A ‘locust’ is both a word for carob, a sugary snack, and for an insect from the East. It is a witty pun, as Othello comes from the East, yet Desdemona sees him as a sweet man. Iago sees the Moor as a parasite, irritating and feeding off others. Again it aids Roderigo in picturing what Iago means; the ancient probably views Roderigo as unintelligent, which he appears to use to his advantage.
Language is used cunningly: hypothetical statements, oaths, repetition, imperatives and rhetorical questions create his masterpiece. The first word of Iago’s first speech is a short, impacting rhetorical question with an ironic tone. He is mocking Roderigo gently, supposedly as a friend. By following with “a fig!” he answers the rhetorical question himself, as he is proposing that Roderigo’s statement was nonsense. After breaking down his pawn’s argument, and illustrating his ideas with imagery, he can insert imperatives:
“Come, be a man” (Ll.15-16)
As Roderigo is now unsure of his view, he is vulnerable. By being told what to do, he is much more likely to accept these commands at this point. Repetition emphasises a certain viewpoint of the argument:
“Put money in thy purse” (Ll.18-19)
This statement is repeated many times throughout the speech – ten times overall, as interjections into the main bulk of the speech. It is through this recurrence that Roderigo can pick it out as more important than anything else. Iago borrows money from his ‘friend’ at the beginning of the play, and so the money that he is being told to put in his purse may well ruin Roderigo.
Due to all of this intelligent use of language, Iago effectively persuades Roderigo to behave exactly as he had planned. It is not even clear that he is planning to persuade the man, as his sentences and ideas appear randomly placed – it seems that he prefers to think on his feet rather than to plan. This reflects his attitudes to fighting and Othello’s modern theory of preparation for battle, which is again paralleled with his speech making ability. His ancient’s subtlety is just as effective, as it catches Roderigo unaware and influences him to “put money in [his] purse”. He may not understand exactly what Iago is insinuating, or even what his theories mean, but he seems so sure that it becomes easy to get drawn in. He acts like a snake, hiding true emotions and true identity, as he did in Act 1 Scene 1 with Brabantio.
The passage reflects the central concerns of the play in that it is an example of Iago’s manipulation of a character. Roderigo becomes the ‘blind puppy’ that is said to be drowned. It talks, as does a lot of the play, about free will versus predestination. As he believes that our bodies are our gardens, and that we can choose how we feel, Iago clearly does not agree that human beings are predestined to act a particular way:
“’Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus” (L.3)
Yet he clearly does not believe Othello to be such a man, as he is the one to altar how the Moor feels. Maybe it is a justification to him, if he feels any guilt, that the destruction is not all his doing. There is also the debate of whether or not people can stay in love. Although he speaks of Othello and Desdemona, it is probable that he is thinking of his own wife. They appear to have lost the love they once shared, shown in Act 2 Scene 1 when Iago insults Emilia shamelessly. He knows what it is like to find that “when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice”.
The passage in general illustrates clearly how Iago can altar a situation in his favour.
