The Villainous Iago In Shakespeare's Othello

The Villainous Iago The most common spy, harmful and deceitful character of Shakespeare’s Othello, the Moor of Venice. The ancient to the leader and soldier of Cyprus. The strongly despised hypocrite and plotter behind the backs of his so called fellow friends. Iago, a multi-personality character that emotionally poisons those he comes in contact with. The jealousy he carries on his shoulders shows his true character when applying himself to internally destroy Othello. By doing so, he associates with others dear to Othello’s heart by starting rumors, persuading, and misguiding them indirectly. Iago comes off as an innocent person to those surrounding him. He aims to maintain his reputation while corrupting others. The method to his madness …show more content…
His hatred towards the Moor stays secretive while he acts as if he is his most trustworthy partner. An ironic scene in the movie Othello shows a checkerboard with a black king, white king and a white soldier in between them. This portrays Iago’s eagerness to diminish the Moor by continuing to separate him from his duties and show Iago’s power compared to Othello’s after he has become weak. He acts upon this in a slender way by holding Othello’s horse when he comes back from war to relay the good news that it was defeated by the Cyprus army. As Iago was the first to welcome Othello, he is also the first to casually take pieces of him by starting with his horse, then eventually his one true …show more content…
Not only does he use them in his planned trap, but he also uses other people. His wife, for instance, was a victim to his arrangement. She grabbed Desdemona’s handkerchief, a gift from Othello, and brought it to Iago where he used it to keep his rumor active. The importance of this rumor was to rile up Othello into believing that Cassio and Desdemona are in love. As Iago first confronts Othello about his fable, Othello states, “I’ll see before I doubt, and when I doubt, prove”. This encouraged Iago to continue his plan and use the handkerchief as a way to show Othello the secret love between the two. He succeeds by placing the gift in Cassio’s home and having him be witnessed with it during a conversation with Iago nearby Othello. Iago talks to Cassio about his mistress and makes it seem as if Cassio was talking about Desdemona. Hearing this, Othello starts to seize in the thought that his wife has betrayed him. Little did he know that Iago’s intention was to cause such