Explain your interpretation of Iago's character and role in the play so far.

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By Tom Fowler

Explain your interpretation of Iago’s character and role in the play so far

I think it is easy to see that Iago is a horrible person from the start of the play. Iago is manipulative, scheming and nasty. I will now use evidence to support my ideas for this.

  ‘And I – God bless the mark – his Moorship’s ancient.’ (L32.A1.S1) This quote is about Iago not being made lieutenant but being Othello’s ancient. Shakespeare shows us that Iago is very unhappy about this. We can see that Iago refers to Othello as ‘his Moorship’. This shows that Iago does not like Othello because he refers to him as a Moor and not as Othello. I think Iago feels that he is too good to be Othello’s ancient because he said ‘God bless the mark’ which means God help me. This shows Iago can not believe he is going to work for Othello.  

  ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’ (L42.A1.S1) This quote is from Iago talking to Roderigo about why he is going to be Othello’s ancient. We can see that Iago said he is going to ‘serve my turn upon him.’ This shows us that the reason he is working for Othello is so that he can take revenge on him. This once again shows us that Iago is a nasty person. Iago want’s to take revenge on Othello because he was not made lieutenant.

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  ‘Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.’ (L57.A1.S1) This quote shows that Iago said that if he were Othello, he would not want to be Iago. Iago said this because he knows how horrible he is and how he is going to cause Othello lots of trouble. I think the audience knows at this point that Iago is a sinister character that is put in the play to cause trouble.

  ‘I am not what I am.’ (L65.A1.S1) Shakespeare shows us that Iago can not be trusted because he is not going to show his true desires. ...

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