Character Analysis of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello - Essay Example

Character Analysis of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello “Multiple Iago”, book written by Pia Witzel; depicts Iago as a two faced person. Iago owns an important part in the play, and creates his image as a virtuous soul. Pia’s says that the Iago had an honest character but his words were aimed to infiltrate the minds of other people in the way, by the way he used to decipher those truths. His evil techniques made him plausible in front of noble men such as “Othello”. Goth examines the human perceptions of evil and villains by the writing of Shakespeare and Pardoner. He explains that characters like the one in Shakespeare’s Othello ‘Iago, were very sharp minded persons. They had a control on every word they said, and not a word about their intentions ever slipped from their tongue. They were often back biters and were occasionally the cause of panic between two powerful entities. Characters like Iago were good in the choice of costumes they wore and their selection of choosing the right thing to say at the perfect timing. Jibesh Bhattacharyya, in the book “William Shakespeare’s Othello” sum ups the reviews of different authors and critics of English literature about the painted character “Iago”. Some call Iago as being an impossible character to exist, merely because it’s unnatural for a person to be so evil in the boots of a soldier. While some of the critics claim that the character of Iago is a best fit in Shakespeare’s plays addressing the audience. They have a feeling that Shakespeare took the idea of this character from routine life and must have met such a person. The literature guide book by "Shmoop”, analyzes the character of” Iago” in detail. Iago has been a very mysterious villain in Shakespeare’s play. Unlike all other villains in “Hamlet” and “Merchant of Venice”, Iago has no evil motives behind harming the life of Othello. He is the master of all the evil plotting in the play but his destiny is unidentified. Shakespeare's ‘Iago’ is one of most sophisticated and mysterious villain. At the initiation of the play Iago's temperament seems to be completely evil. But such a character would find it difficult to impact the play and others would soon recognize him. Shakespeare depicts his villain as a moral being, as it used to be in typical English literature. Iago's entire design starts when Cassio, whom Iago considers as an ignorant and irresponsible person, is given the place Iago desired. Iago is obsessed with envy and therefore he plots a wicked plan to steal that position which he feels he most fairly deserves. Iago then plans and viciously accepts that position. In spite of the fact that Iago’s motives were always evil, it is not that Iago pushes aside his sense of right and wrong to commend these acts, but that he requires a conscience to embark on with. Iago's immorality can be seen throughout the play and is verified by his dealings. Iago is one of the biggest notorious and baffling villains of all times. Iago's ability for cruelty appears limitless. Perhaps one of the most atrocious villains in Shakespeare’s play, Iago is mesmerizing for his most awful characteristic i.e. his absolute deficiency of influential motivation for all of his actions. At the start of the play, he claims to be annoyed at Othello for having passed him over for the post of lieutenant. While never showing his lust of revenge for this act, he revenged Othello by falsely accusing his wife and making them hate each other. But in the play, none of the claims seem to effectively explain Iago’s profound hatred of Othello. He is willing to take vengeance on anyone either it’s Othello, Desdemona, Roderigo, Cassio, or even Emilia; at the least provocation and get pleasure from the pain and harm he causes. Iago is often humorous, specifically in his scenes with the foolish Roderigo, which serve as a platform of Iago’s calculating abilities. He seems to wink at the spectators as he revels in his own talent. By the art of playing tricks on his ambitions, Iago is able to cheat money and jewels from Roderigo while making a considerable profit for himself and using Roderigo to move forward for his other goals.   Iago is one of the most remarkable characters in the tragedy "Othello" written by ‘William Shakespeare’.  Through some carefully sought out words, phrases and actions, Iago is able to control others to do stuff in a way that profit him and gets him closer to his objectives.   He’s the energetic force in the play, pushing Othello and everyone else towards the catastrophic ending. Iago is not one of the typical villains as in any account or play. The role he plays is exceptional and complex, distant from what one might think of a villain. Iago is not only a very smart thinker, but he is also a specialist judge personality. At the beginning of the play, Iago to Othello:"I am not what I am.” Throughout the play we see a widening gap stuck between who he actually is, and who he act as if to be. The viewer, as a witness to all that occurs on stage, knows exactly the truth while all the characters in the play are tricked by Iago. He implies that Desdemona and Cassio are in an affair, thus building a cuckold of Othello. Othello quickly got stuck into what Iago says as perceived that his wife was becoming unfaithful by days. He uses all of his time plotting against Othello and Desdemona, ultimately persuading Othello that his wife has been dishonest, in spite of the fact that ‘Desdemona’, wife of Othello, has been totally truthful. The more Iago is contemptible in driving Othello and Desdemona spaced out, the more Othello believes him. In a few dumpy scenes he has convinced Othello of Desdemona's unfaithfulness, and has him ready to murder her. Iago is a mastermind at interpreting human emotions, and twisting them to ensemble his wishes. Shakespeare depicts Iago as an artist of evil. The similar way that some people enjoy writing or composing songs and filming shows, Iago takes pleasure in ruining the lives of men. He performs it with a unique sense of craftsmanship. While reading the play, one can notice how he pauses every time he does something shrewdly evil, to ponder on it and tell everyone how grand he really is. While talking about negative people, we have a tendency to think of evil people as being brutal and numb, or at least disengaged from the people they damage. However Iago is able to hurt Othello so much because of the fact that he recognizes him so well. He gets closer and closer to Othello as his plot advances. Iago manipulates him so proficiently that at times it seems he is in fact inside Othello's body. Iago rests supreme among all of Shakespeare's evil characters because the greatest strength and delicacy of imagination have gone to his making. He also demonstrates that in the most perfect combination about the two facts about evil, which seem to have immensely impressed Shakespeare. The first of these is the fact that completely sound people exist in whom empathy of any kind is so fragile that an almost utter self-centeredness becomes likely to them and with it those rigid subordinates, such as ungratefulness and cruelty which to Shakespeare were extremely the worst. The next is that such evil is well-suited, and even emerges to collaborate itself effortlessly, with outstanding influence of will and intelligence. In the ultimate respect Iago is almost or quite the identical of Richard, while in egoism he is finer and his poor standard in passion and huge force only makes him more disgusting. But here it may be supposed, we are publicizing a thing very evil, and that is more dreadful. This absolute evil is combined with superlative intellectual power. King Henry the fourth says: “There is some soul of goodness in things evil, would men observantly distil it out” For a person to be like Iago, someone who continuously lies and deceives one's wife and acquaintances, one must be extremely evil or unethical. Where ever in the play, Iago speaks; one can point out his illusory manner. Iago tricks Othello into considering that his own spouse is having an affair, without any tangible proof. Othello is so jammed up in Iago's lies that he refuses to believe Desdemona when she refutes the entire thing. The credit must be given to Iago's diabolical expertise which enables him to curve and twist the elastic minds of his friends and wife. If Iago was to live in today's society he would be called a psychopath without a sense of right and wrong, not the evil spirit incarnate. Iago also grips to steal from his own buddy without the slightest feeling of shame. He misuses the money that Roderigo grants him to win over Desdemona. When Roderigo find outs that Iago has been holding his money he yells at Iago and terrorizes him. However, when Iago puts in the picture some fanciful plot in order to imprison Desdemona's heart, Roderigo forgets Iago's robbery and agrees to execute Cassio. Iago's intense intellect is what intrigues the reader most. His capability to say the right things at the right time is what makes him such an unbeaten villain. This is why it is obligatory to say that Iago is immoral, because if you don’t, his character becomes imaginary and hard to judge. By the climactic end of the play, Iago's plot is set away to Othello by Iago’s own wife, Emilia. Iago distinguishes his wife as a barrier and a nuisance so he kills Emilia. Emilia was a hesitant block in front of his path. Iago's merciless slaughtering of Emilia's and Roderigo's lives is one more proof of his brutality. If we look at the recent day cinema, we will find the trite villain, evil to its core. Shakespeare did not made his villains transparent similar to the villains of modern cinema. He gave them deepness and courage. Iago is in perfect co ordinance of "Shakespeare's villain." Iago’s amorality and sarcasm gave what would be a very deadly character in life. References: Witzel, Pia. Multiple Iago - the Character and Motives of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello. Mu?nchen: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2008. Internet resource. Goth, Maik. From Chaucer's Pardoner to Shakespeare's Iago: Aspects of Intermediality in the History of the Vice. Frankfurt, M: Lang, 2009. Print. Bhattacharyya, Jibesh. William Shakespeare's Othello. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 2006. Print. Shakespeare Plays and Sonnets; Learning Guides and Teaching Resources. , n.d.. Internet resource. Read More