Iago Shrewdly Directs This Play

6 Pages 1535 Words

The main distinguishing point between Shakespeare’s Othello and his other works is the role of villainous Iago. Iago articulates the plot while he plays a key role in the play, seemingly as a puppeteer, subtly directing most (if not all) of the other characters, most notably Othello, the noble Moor, in this play. Othello seems, above all other characters, a subject to the play’s focal character, Iago. Iago cleverly forges Othello to see, among other things, false infidelity of his young and beautiful wife, Desdemona, with his rival, Lieutenant Michael Cassio. Not only is illusion and the stretch between appearance and reality a central theme of the play, it overlaps a theme of patriarchy and the political state, labeling characters with military ranks.

As the story unfolds, Iago claims credit as the story’s mastermind. So Iago’s character draws many emotions in readers, as he serves as an undistinguished stage director. His most important characteristic is his escalating ability throughout the play to cleverly manipulate. Iago calls forth many emotions in readers. Few of the emotions he draws are that of trust, then deception, and next impertinence, then hypocrisy.

From the book’s opening, Iago justifiably earns the reader’s acceptance and trust. For the trust he builds, Iago tells Roderigo, “I am not what I am” (I. 1. 64). Roderigo softens as he listens to Iago confide in him. And by demonstrating how Roderigo trusts him, Iago simply puts his integrity so far in question so as not to leave any doubt of his complete honesty in the mind of the reader.

We trust Iago until Roderigo’s gullibility shines through, at about the point that they both confront Brabantio. As Roderigo informs Desdemona’s father of a marriage he disapproves of, he assures Roderigo that with either man, “Some one way, some another” (174), he would disapprove. Then Roderigo fails to reinstate himself as a worthy candidat...