Iago, in the play Othello, is a very intriguing villain. He has all the qualities of a perfect villain. He is a liar and he steals on the pretext of helping.

International Baccalaureate World Literature

Rahul Ganji

English A1 HL

The Character of Iago

“The last Speech, the motive-hunting of motiveless Malignity--how awful! In itself fiendish--while yet he was allowed to bear the divine image, too fiendish for his own steady View.--A being next to Devil--only not quite Devil--& this Shakespeare has attempted-- executed--without disgust, without Scandal!”

- Samuel Coleridge (Lectures 1808-1819 On Literature 2: 315)

Iago, in the play Othello, is a very intriguing villain. He has all the qualities of a perfect villain. He is a liar and he steals on the pretext of helping. And most important of all, he uses his manipulative nature to exploit other people’s greatest vulnerabilities in order to destroy them. But what sets him apart from the typical immoral villain is that he is amoral and has no fixed motives for his actions as such. Iago is a classic two-faced villain, with no motives for his crimes other than to “plume up his will,” (1.3.375). His soliloquies are, as appropriately stated by Coleridge above, merely the “motive-hunting of motiveless malignity.” Throughout the play, Iago stumbles upon motives to justify his actions. Possible motives put forth by Iago are failure to be promoted, jealousy, sexual infidelity, lust for Desdemona and racism. Despite these many given reasons and motives, he in fact has no real motive at all. Iago is driven by his nature of character, that of being evil. This is evident in Iago’s amorality and his perception of his actions.

Amoral is the state to being neither moral nor immoral. ‘Honest’ Iago’s evil plans begin when Cassio, an “arithmetician” (1.1.19), is granted the position of Lieutenant by Othello, overlooking Iago who “had seen the proof at Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds,” (1.1.28-29). Iago is consumed with envy and plots to steal the position he feels he most justly deserves. Iago deceives, steals, and kills to gain that position. However, it is not that Iago pushes aside his conscience to commit these acts, but that he lacks a conscience to begin with. He does not indulge in evil, but is the evil himself.

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The character of Iago can be paralleled to that of being the Devil himself, in that he does not need motives and engages in evil for the sake of it. Iago says, “I am not what I am,” (1.1.66). This is an allusion to the Bible: In Exodus, God is in the form of a burning bush and while imparting his laws to Moses, he is asked for his name. God replies: “I am who I am”. Correlating “I am who I am” to God gives rise to Iago’s self description as being the direct opposite. Iago is the opposite of God, that is, he is the Devil. The Devil is motiveless in his acts and this represents the parallelism in Iago’s character. He does not need to justify his acts as being evil or not. He is amoral, in the respect that he lacks moral sensibility.

Iago does not perceive his actions as to being evil. “And what's he then that says I play the villain… / How am I then a villain To counsel Cassio to this parallel course Directly to his good?” (2.3.303/315-317). Iago never admits to being evil, and sees himself as just guiding them to choose their own path of good. Like the Devil, he does not choose evil actions, but his actions are evil nonetheless, disregarding his choice within it. This further shows that Iago is an amoral character. Towards the end, when questioned by Othello as to why he committed such acts, Iago replies, “Demand me nothing; what you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word,” (5.2.300). Even at the time of his death, he does not admit to being evil and revealing his motives. He has had unclear motives throughout the play and this is emphasised with his unclear answer to Othello’s question.

Iago’s main argument for his destruction of Othello is that he believes that “twixt the sheets he’s [Othello] done my office,” (1.3.369), showing an instance of infidelity in Emilia. Although this is a very far-fetched claim, Iago nonetheless finds reason enough in it to form hatred for Othello. In his second soliloquy, he again suggests that “the lusty Moor hath leaped into my [Iago] seat,” (2.1.277). The image of the seat signifies duty and purpose. He feels like he is being robbed of his seat and is overthrown by Othello. The seat also suggests a character trait of Iago: that of being sexist. The idea of seat gives the sense of someone in control. His seat is his position of power over women, power over Emilia. Summing up his assumptions, Iago says, “I know not if’t be true, Yet I, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety,” (1.3.370-372). It appears that Iago’s scheming characteristics lead him to a certain amount of paranoia: he thinks that anyone who tells the truth is a fool, so perhaps he assumes that anyone who is not a fool is lying to him. Iago’s belief in his wife’s infidelity may explain his choice of revenge, in making Othello think that his own wife is unfaithful.

Throughout the play, Iago keeps emphasizing that he hates Othello: “I hate the Moor” (1.3.350). Though he does not exactly state the reason why he hates Othello. Could it be racism? Iago expresses racist attitudes and uses insulting terms for Othello, such as “an old black ram” (1.1.89), “the devil” (1.1.92), and “a Barbary horse” (1.1.111). This shows the racist side to Iago, which comes to life only when he is filled with hate. Racism could therefore be a possible motive for Iago’s actions. Or perhaps Iago’s hatred arises simply from his other reasons, and serves to build on his already malicious nature.

Cassio’s promotion to the position of lieutenant is not the sole reason for Iago’s hate towards him. The motive of jealousy is also reasoned by Iago. In his second soliloquy, he remarks, “I fear Cassio with my night-cap too” (2.1.288), meaning, Iago also suspects Cassio of sleeping with Emilia. Again there is little evidence for this other than Cassio’s seemingly smarmy greeting to the two women when they arrive in Cyprus. This suggests either Iago’s paranoia or that he is looking for a more concrete reason for his actions against Cassio, as stated by Coleridge.

Another reason Iago states for his actions is one of lust. In his soliloquy, Iago says that “now I do love her [Desdemona] too, not out of absolute lust…but partly led to diet my revenge,” (2.1.273). Here, although he clearly is sexually attracted to Desdemona, he lends support to Coleridge’s argument. He lusts for Desdemona, but he justifies it by saying that she would “diet my [Iago] revenge,” (2.1.275). He looks at this as a reason for involving Desdemona in his plot, and takes pleasure in contemplating revenge by having sex with Desdemona and “put[ting] the Moor at least into a jealousy so strong,” (2.1.282). This may be the case for all of Iago’s many, sometimes peculiar, motives; these are things he believes and desires normally that are multiplied by a sudden cruel urge for revenge.

When Othello learns of Iago as being the criminal, he stabs him but does not kill him, “If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee,” (5.2.284). Othello does not kill Iago, he says that Iago is the devil, and the devil cannot be killed. This shows Iago as being the devil himself, and being justified in his motiveless pursuit of evil.

Although Iago puts forth a number of reasons and motives such as failure to be promoted, jealousy, sexual infidelity, lust for Desdemona and racism, he is in fact motiveless. The arguments Iago gives are nothing more than justifications to himself and the other characters he confers with. Iago is a disturbing, ruthless and amoral character who does not make his moves with conscious reasoning, but only to inflict pain. When asked why, Iago's response is just as simple: “What you know, you know,” (5.2.300). In conclusion, it seems that the vast range of increasingly questionable motives Iago gives in the first two acts of Shakespeare’s Othello point not to a man with just cause for his malicious revenge, but to something far worse. Iago’s machiavellian actions have very few real motives at all and those given are purely for the Devil’s [Iago’s] peace of mind.

Personal Conversation – Darren Wang, October 30, 2007