Search for Essay/Term Paper Topic:

Othello And Iago

Below is one of our free research papers on Othello And Iago. If the term paper below is not exactly what you're looking for, you can search our essay database for other topics.

Othello And Iago

One of the most interesting and exotic characters in the tragic play "

Othello", by William Shakespeare, is "honest" Iago. At first Iago
seems to be motiveless. However, the motivation behind his actions lie more in

Iago's quest for personal gain, as opposed to just being evil for evil's sake.

Iago's greediness can be validated by examining his manipulation of Roderigo,

Cassio, and most importantly, Othello. Iago's main interest is the destruction
of Othello. The reason being that Othello has chosen another man, Cassio, as his
second-in-command, preferring him to Iago. This resentment, accompanied by

Iago's accusations of adultery and his blatant racism, cause Iago to despise the
kindly moor. Because Iago is much too smart to immediately kill Othello, he
proceeds with the arduous process of dismantling him emotionally. Iago also
knows he must distance himself from any part of this, so he cleverly gets
someone to do his dirty work. The first to fall victim to Iago's manipulation is
half-witted Roderigo. Iago knows Roderigo is consumed by lust for Desdemona, and
would do what it takes to make her his own. Iago tells Roderigo that the only
way to win Desdemona's love is to make money to procure gifts for her. "Put
money in thy purse..."(act I scene 3 line 339). However Iago is just taking
those gifts intended for Desdemona and keeping them for himself, and making a
profit. Roderigo eventually starts to question Iago's honesty. When faced with
the accusati...

Login

Join

It's completely free!
Get instant access to all our essays.

Join Now!

Submitted by: freeessay
Date Submitted: 12-10-00 6:22pm
Category: English
Words: 568
Pages: 2.27