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461:, an 1887 operatic adaptation of the play, Iago reveals his theology in his Act II aria "Credo in un dio crudel", which has no counterpart in Shakespeare's original: he does believe in a god, but a cruel god who created him in his likeness and that the evil he does is to fulfill his destiny. He also enunciates in the aria that he believes an honest man to be a mocking actor about whom everything is a lie and that mankind is simply a joke of
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259:, who assists him in his plans in the mistaken belief that after Othello is gone, Iago will help Roderigo earn the affection of Othello's wife, Desdemona. After Iago engineers a drunken brawl to ensure Cassio's demotion (in Act 2), he sets to work on his second scheme: leading Othello to believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. This plan occupies the final three acts of the play.
327:. Fred West contends that Shakespeare was not content with simply portraying another "stock" morality figure, and that he, like many dramatists, was particularly interested in the workings of the human mind. Thus, according to West, Iago, who sees nothing wrong with his own behaviour, is "an accurate portrait of a
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but events, once under way, pass out of his control". Following this logic, Draper concludes that Iago "is neither as clever nor as wicked as some would think; and the problem of his character largely resolves itself into the question: was he justified in embarking upon the initial stages of his revenge?"
411:
Léone
Teyssandier writes that a possible motive for Iago's actions is envy towards Desdemona, Cassio and Othello; Iago sees them as more noble, generous and, in the case of Cassio, more handsome than he is. In particular, he sees the death of Cassio as a necessity, saying of him that "He hath a daily
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Bradley writes that Iago "illustrates in the most perfect combination the two facts concerning evil, which seem to have impressed
Shakespeare the most", the first being that "the fact that perfectly sane people exist in whom fellow-feeling of any kind is so weak that an almost absolute egoism becomes
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Weston
Babcock, however, would have readers see Iago as a "human being, shrewdly intelligent, suffering from and striking against a constant fear of social snobbery". According to Babcock, it is not malice, but fear, that drives Iago. For, "Iago dates his maturity, as he considers it, his ability to
430:
There are a million theories to Iago's motivations, but I believed that Iago was once a good soldier, a great man's man to have around, a bit of a laugh, who feels betrayed, gets jealous of his friend, wants to mess it up for him, enjoys causing him pain, makes a choice to channel all his creative
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John Draper, on the other hand, postulates that Iago is simply "an opportunist who cleverly grasps occasion" (726), spurred on by "the keenest of professional and personal motives". Draper argues that Iago "seized occasions rather than made them". According to his theory, Iago "is the first cause,
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Iago's plan appears to succeed when
Othello kills Desdemona, who is innocent of Iago's charges. Soon afterwards, however, Emilia brings Iago's treachery to light, and Iago kills her in a fit of rage before being arrested. He remains famously reticent when pressed for an explanation of his actions
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He manipulates his wife Emilia, Desdemona's lady-in-waiting, into taking from
Desdemona a handkerchief that Othello had given her; he then tells Othello that he had seen it in Cassio's possession. Once Othello flies into a jealous rage, Iago tells him to hide and look on while he (Iago) talks to
291:, often considered such because of the unique trust that Othello places in him, which he betrays while maintaining his reputation for honesty and dedication. Shakespeare contrasts Iago with Othello's nobility and integrity. With 1,097 lines, Iago has more lines in the play than Othello himself.
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Iago is a soldier who has fought beside
Othello for several years, and has become his trusted advisor. At the beginning of the play, Iago claims to have been unfairly passed over for promotion to the rank of Othello's lieutenant in favour of Michael Cassio. Iago plots to manipulate Othello into
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has nowhere else been portrayed with such mastery as in the evil character of Iago", and also states that he "stands supreme among
Shakespeare's evil characters because the greatest intensity and subtlety of imagination have gone into his making." The mystery surrounding Iago's actual motives
275:, is in fact about Desdemona. Mad with jealousy, Othello orders Iago to kill Cassio, promising to make him lieutenant in return. Iago then engineers a fight between Cassio and Roderigo in which the latter is killed (by Iago himself, double-crossing his ally), but the former merely wounded.
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331:", who is "devoid of conscience, with no remorse". West believes that "Shakespeare had observed that there exist perfectly sane people in whom fellow-feeling of any kind is extremely weak while egoism is virtually absolute, and thus he made Iago".
443:. Elsewhere, he is charismatic and friendly, and the advice he offers to both Cassio and Othello is superficially sound; as Iago himself remarks: "And what's he then, that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest...?"
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before he is arrested: "Demand me nothing. What you know, you know. From this time forth I never will speak word." Following
Othello's suicide, Cassio, now in charge, condemns Iago to be imprisoned and tortured as punishment for his crimes.
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schemer and manipulator, as he is often referred to as "honest Iago", displaying his skill at deceiving other characters so that not only do they not suspect him, but they count on him as the person most likely to be truthful.
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possible to them", with the second being "that such evil is compatible, and even appears to ally itself easily, with exceptional powers of will and intellect". The same critic also famously said that "to compare Iago with the
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understand the world, from the age at which he recognized every remark to be personally pointed. One only who lacks inner assurance and is so constantly on guard against any hint of his inferiority could so confess himself".
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energy into the destruction of this human being, and becomes completely addicted to the power he wields over him. I didn't want to play him as initially malevolent. He's not
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demoting Cassio, and thereafter to bring about the downfall of
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seems almost absurd, so immensely does Shakespeare's man exceed
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Babcock, Weston (1965). "Iago-an Extraordinary Honest Man".
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continues to intrigue readers and fuel scholarly debate.
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Iago has been described as a "motiveless malignity" by
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as Othello and Iago, respectively, in a scene from the
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1381:
1373:
1365:Story within
1353:
1312:
1290:
1286:(1986; film)
1281:
1272:
1268:(1906; film)
1263:
1244:
1236:
1228:
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1212:
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1196:
1188:
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1078:
1068:
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995:
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853:
797:
788:
779:
773:
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736:
692:
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652:
648:
614:
589:
583:
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567:Cinematheque
566:
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519:
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490:
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445:
438:
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253:
241:
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224:Robert Armin
221:
190:
156:
155:
121:Rory Kinnear
116:Mark Rylance
86:Robert Armin
74:Portrayed by
39:
25:
1466:(2015 film)
1463:The Dresser
1458:(2012 play)
1434:(1983 film)
1431:The Dresser
1426:(1980 play)
1423:The Dresser
1386:(1931 film)
1378:(1921 film)
1246:Jarum Halus
1181:adaptations
1031:adaptations
955:adaptations
699:: 297–301.
593:, pp. 88–90
499:6 September
446:It is this
416:Andy Serkis
306:said that "
187:Shakespeare
91:Edwin Booth
81:Bob Hoskins
56:Edwin Booth
1496:Categories
1455:Red Velvet
1257:From Verdi
1214:Kaliyattam
1007:(UK; 1970)
998:(US; 1969)
980:Masquerade
940:(1565) by
929:(1550) by
864:Characters
628:0140530193
469:References
463:iniquitous
420:Manchester
365:See also:
329:psychopath
294:Iago is a
228:Touchstone
197:antagonist
64:Created by
1415:Saptapadi
1305:Paintings
1012:Desdemona
907:Brabantio
877:Desdemona
792:V.i.19–20
765:251024889
613:(1974) .
573:24 August
433:the Devil
426:, that:
213:Desdemona
126:Affonceka
44:character
1383:Carnival
1375:Carnival
1090:Bandanna
902:Roderigo
492:Playbill
289:villains
257:Roderigo
1557:Othello
1474:Related
1367:a story
1342:Related
1324:Phrases
1314:Othello
1080:Othello
1060:Othello
988:Othello
872:Othello
855:Othello
713:2867657
669:3198785
528:23 June
386:Othello
361:Motives
201:Othello
192:Othello
41:Othello
1450:(1990)
1442:(1988)
1418:(1961)
1410:(1947)
1402:(1936)
1394:(1931)
1283:Otello
1265:Otello
1249:(2008)
1241:(2006)
1238:Omkara
1233:(2004)
1225:(2001)
1217:(1997)
1209:(1974)
1201:(1962)
1193:(1956)
1050:Otello
1040:Otello
1028:ballet
1015:(2011)
991:(1951)
983:(1835)
975:(1633)
967:(1623)
942:Cintio
917:Source
897:Bianca
892:Emilia
887:Cassio
763:
757:457857
755:
711:
667:
625:
465:fate.
459:Otello
441:asides
347:Milton
273:Bianca
209:Emilia
199:, and
149:Emilia
145:Spouse
1230:Souli
1190:Jubal
1103:Films
1024:Opera
953:Stage
761:S2CID
753:JSTOR
709:JSTOR
665:JSTOR
337:Satan
238:Feste
1179:Film
1169:2001
1164:1994
1159:1990
1154:1981
1131:1995
1126:1965
1121:1955
1116:1951
1111:1922
1026:and
882:Iago
623:ISBN
575:2024
530:2010
501:2017
378:and
308:evil
236:and
157:Iago
34:Iago
745:doi
701:doi
657:doi
457:'s
453:In
339:of
240:in
230:in
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