The Villainy of Iago in Othello, a Play by William Shakespeare

The action and plot of Shakespeare’s Othello is driven almost explicitly by the play‘s main antagonist, Iago. Iago’s villainy is perhaps the most integral component of the play, as the entire plotline and ultimate demise of the protagonist, Othello, as well as others along the way, are resultant of Iago’s plotting. In this way, Iago’s villainy not only enhances the meaning of the work but in and of itself shapes and defines the work to be what it is.

The nature of Iago’s villainy, however, is a complex and multi-dimensional facet of this play, and through his quasi—narration of the happenings within it, the way that the readers experience the chain of events is greatly impacted. logo’s uncanny ability to manipulate others by convincing him that he is working in their best interests as well as his relentless need to take down those who have what he does not create the image of an incredibly ruthless, tenacious, and (most dangerously) competent, villain.

Because Iago offers more information to the audience than is evident to his fellow characters, he creates a sense of dramatic irony that further amplifies the extent of his victim’s downfalls. logo’s villainy is the primary and most influential driving force within the play, and the nature of this characteristic is perhaps the most notable and fascinating component of the play. Iago’s primary method of negatively affecting the lives of those around him is by gaining their trust in order to understand their points of sensitivity and insecurities, and then make them believe that he is a good—natured confidant while surreptitiously exploiting their weaknesses.

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This tactic allows Iago to understand how to most effectively take down his enemies while simultaneously protecting himself from any suspicion by feigning his allegiance. This process can be seen in many instances throughout the play.

For example, Iago manipulates Roderigo at the very beginning of the play to do his bidding by capitalizing on what he knows to be Roderigo’s current greatest weakness— his infatuation with Desdemona. By determining Roderigo‘s most vulnerable wish, Iago can then manipulate Roderigo to do his bidding by convincing him that even the most illogical courses of action will help him win over Desdemona. The reason that Roderigo is so willing to obey Iago’s commands is due to another one of Iago’s powerfully villainous traits- Iago is able to convince Roderigo that he is on his side and that he is devoted to helping Roderigo succeed. By doing this, Iago has not only learned more information from Roderigo than he would have if Roderigo had viewed ago as a mere acquaintance, but he is now much more likely to follow all of Iago’s advice, thinking that its coming from a place of good Intentions. This process is used by Iago repeatedly to bend characters such as Cassio and Othello to his will, His versatility in regards to each character allows him to gain their trust and therefore manipulate them to follow his proposed course of action.

This aspect of his villainy is notable in that his betrayal of his peers and the immorality of his actions are greatly magnified by the deeply trusting relationship he has with those he actively tries to bring down. Another aspect of Iago’s villainy that is fairly unconventional is his lack of a seemingly clear or definitive motive. It is apparent that Iago‘s main justification for his actions is jealousy, but this alone does not seem sufficient reason for him to go out of his way as much as he does, risking as much as he does just to ensure the demise of those around him. His yearning for social merits such as a high ranking job, socially-tactful marriage, and universal reverence and respect are his only clear motivations for attempting to destroy the lives of those around him.

Through doing this, he is putting his own job, marriage, and inevitably his social acceptance at risk if he were to get caught plotting as he does. The effort necessary to produce his desired results is by no means legitimized or equal to the extent of the risks he takes and the severity of the possible consequences, nor is it warranted by a justified motive. Because of this, at least a large part of Iago’s villainy must be credited to his inherent and ingrained evilness; the maliciousness of his actions cannot be explained solely by his need for the highest social standing possible. This makes his villainy all the more dangerous: it is not a transient characteristic that exists temporarily due to a reasonable justification, lago‘s villainy exists by its own volition and as a purely evil entity.

By this reasoning, its presence is much more sinister and threatening, the final aspect of logo’s villainy that is especially pertinent to readers is the way in which he presents it: honestly and simply. Iago makes no attempt to disguise his true intentions to the audience and offers them the knowledge that does not come to fruition until much later in the play. His unrestricted self-proclamation of immorality connotes his villainy with a wildly unbridled chaotic natures Iago’s relentless honesty in this regard is unnerving to read. As a result we as an audience know exactly how Iago plans to destroy Othello, making his downfall all the more tragic. We can see each and every one of Othello’s actions feeding directly into Iago’s plan, the prophesized descent from valiant hero to irrationally envious psychopath is done so with greater contrast due to our prior knowledge of in this narration by Iago is an aspect of his villainy that greatly affects the meaning of the work as a whole.