Another reason Iago destroys the other characters of the play, is the hatred he harbours. He hates Othello because he is black- he is constantly referring to him as the ‘moor’ behind his back and even calls him a ‘black ram,’ both of which are racist terms. Iago does not like the fact that a black man has power and is above him and will not allow it to continue. He despises Othello for not promoting him, which can be noted when he refers to Othello as ‘loving his own pride and purposes’ hinting Iago’s hatred by calling Othello narcissistic. As I have already mentioned, Iago has feelings for Desdemona which may lead towards hatred of Othello as he has her- a white woman even though he is black. When Iago says ‘devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows as I do now’ it proves how much Iago hates Othello as he is prepared to associate himself with hell. Iago also hates Desdemona. He is a harsh misogynist- one who hates women: there is a conversation on the
ship between Iago, Desdemona and Emilia about women, in which Iago says women are only useful to ‘suckle fools and chronicle small beer’ implying that women are not useful at all. This would lead to the destruction of Desdemona as Iago believes women are useless and ought to stay quiet, but Desdemona speaks up in court when her father is accusing Othello of stealing her. This is something which would build up more hate in Iago for Desdemona as what she did is wrong in Iago’s eyes. Iago hates Desdemona for her friendships with Cassio and Emilia as he believes he has no one. Iago hates Cassio as well. Cassio took the job which Iago believes should have been his, and, just as before, when I referred to his jealousy of Cassio getting the job, we can also notice hatred in Iago’s voice when he puts Cassio down as a soldier. Also Cassio’s close relationship with Desdemona and his success with women- i.e. his femininity, cause hatred for him in Iago. This is shown when Iago proclaims ‘he’ll be as full of quarrel and offence as my young mistress’ dog’ which portrays how much Iago loathes Cassio’s feminine inability. Iago also hates Roderigo as he is useless and pathetic- referring to him as ‘the poor trash of Venice’ and the ‘fool’ from whom he takes money. He considers the whole of humanity base animals- succumbing to their feelings (for example the sexual feelings Othello has for Desdemona) - saying it is the ‘blood and baseness of our nature’ -he hates the whole human race. This is also shown when he refers to some of the characters in the play as animals- for example when he calls Cassio and Desdemona ‘hot monkeys’ making them sound primitive and barbaric.
Another one of Iago’s motives is his love for himself, Othello and Desdemona. His love for Desdemona is shown when he says ‘I do love her too’ which indicates that Iago wants Desdemona so he will have to destroy Othello- her current lover. Also when Iago declares ‘nothing can, or shall, content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife’ it creates the twisted idea that Iago wants to sleep with Othello’s wife and may be even destroy her. His love for Othello is part of his desire for power and to be like Othello and to be his closest friend. Iago’s desire to be in Othello’s position is revealed when he proclaims ‘make the moor thank me, love me, and reward me’ which suggests that Iago’s love for Othello and his desire to be in his position means the eradication of Othello. Iago is envious of Cassio and Desdemona because of their relationship with Othello. His desire to be Othello’s best friend hints that he may have to destroy both Desdemona and Cassio to get this. Iago has a strange love for himself. We can see this when, at the beginning, Iago says ‘I know my price I am worth no worse a place’ showing that he has self-worth and puts himself above everyone. This love for himself pushes him to eradicate those who he thinks stand in his way and threaten him. He serves only himself; in the opening speech he has with Roderigo he says ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’ implying that he is a cold, self-centred man and only does things for his own benefit. In Iago’s speech with Roderigo, in Act 1 Scene 3, he says ‘the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions. But we have reason to cool our raging motions’ which he follows with ‘whereof I take this, that you call love, to be a sect or scion’ which shows that Iago considers himself above the human race- who all succumb to their basic desires but he has reasoning and that he considers Roderigo as lowly for having fallen in love. We can also tell that Iago loves himself and feels he is above others when he refers to other characters in the play as animals- for example when he calls Othello a ‘black ram’ which suggests that they are primitive compared to him.
One of Iago’s main motivations to destroy the other characters is his hunger for power- he will do anything to get it. Iago starts off as powerless and wants what he lacks- we see this when he states ‘make the moor thank me, love me, and reward me for making him egregiously an ass’ which shows that Iago intends to dominate his superior by making him far lower than Iago has ever been. Iago’s high self-esteem is conveyed when he claims ‘I know my price, I am worth no worse a place’ which hints that Iago feels he deserves respect and power and can, therefore, take it by any means necessary. When Iago says ‘if I can fasten but one cup upon him, with that which he hath drunk tonight already, he’ll be as full of quarrel and offence as my mistress’ old dog’ it shows that he wants to reduce Cassio to a stage of drunken foolishness and takes pleasure in doing so as it gives him power over Cassio- the person who stole his job. We can see Iago’s desire for power when he vows to turn Desdemona’s ‘virtues into in to pitch, and out of her own goodness make the net that shall enmesh them all’ which
not only illustrates his desire to destroy Desdemona but his desire to have power over all. At one stage in the play, Iago is so intoxicated by his greed for power that he proclaims ‘now whether he kills Cassio, or Cassio him, or each do kill the other, every way is my gain’ which shows that his want for power is so strong that he does not care who he harms- his logical mind is out of control as he gets closer to power and knows that it is not far off. Even at the end of the play, in Act 5 Scene 2, when Iago is asked why he did what he did he answers ‘demand me nothing; what you know, you know’ and follows it with ‘from this time forth I never will speak a word’ which demonstrates how much Iago desires power as even when his life is under the most threat, he clings on to the little power he has over the other characters- the truth.
These are what we think Iago’s motives could be. We will never actually know because, when he is questioned at the end, about why he did what he did, he replies ‘Demand me nothing; what you know, you know: From this time forth I never will speak word’ which is quite unnerving. He has done what he wanted- he has destroyed the other characters (apart from Cassio) with his words and need not use them anymore. We are left to make our own minds up about why Iago did it. There are hints here and there but still we do not know him well enough to conclude what his reasons were from the evidence we receive throughout the play. We cannot even be sure that Iago was telling us his true thoughts in his soliloquies about Othello and Cassio having slept with Emilia. May be he is motiveless: he just invents reasons to be bad. We do not hear of the affair situation anywhere outside Iagos soliloquies. He does say himself ‘I am not what I am’ so does this not mean that anything he seems to be he is not and everything he says is a lie. I believe that Iago is the character with the most depth that I have ever encountered- so much depth that it becomes almost impossible to analyse him.