Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of Iago in ‘Othello’. You must relate your discussion to relevant contextual
factors and ideas from your critical reading.
BLURT: WHAT/ WHO is Iago? A VIllian, a Malcontent, a god, Shakespeare himself?? Who: pure evil? a
comedian, severely mishandled or just a menace. Where does his villainy come from? Insecurity, is he
projecting in order to pretend he has power? Is he successful, what does he actually want>
Motives;
- Repressed Homosexuality
- Hate against the ‘system’
- Lust and misogyny
- Self hatred and insecurity-> which yields jealousy motives (Both Iago and Othello are jealous of one
another )
Reveals:
- Duplicitous identity of man
- Power of stagecraft and drama
- Ambiguous identity---
Easier to first considering how he goes about achieving this: Broadly-> His social control, puppetry of all
characters on stage, he uses multiple mediums to achieve this, sexual language, reputation (his and others),
social rankings (dropping Cassio’s), Encouraging others insecurities (Race), Story Telling, Turning virtue into
pitch, Comedy -> Words - appealing to the audience and Othello.
A lot of Ao5 to consider for Iago, focus and choose AFTER Thesis
Ao3:
- Hechatometti
- Hedonistic Tragedy
- Machiavellian Villain
- Malcontent
- Social standing
- Other Shakespearean villains
- Nihilism (philosophical)
- Revenge tragedy
Thesis: Ultimately, Shakespeare presents Iago as an insecure outsider, who perpetuates his own insecurities
upon others.
Point 1: Iago perpetuates his sexual insecurity onto Othello.
Point 2: Iago perpetuates his societal inferiority onto Othello.
ANT: He is a motiveless malign and delights in giving pain, rather than jealousy based on insecurities.// ANT:
Othello and IAgo are simply the same character.
Thesis: Ultimately, Shakespeare characteristics Iago as a villain figure, whose intentions are to create harmful
stereotypes in the play.
Point 1: Iago spreads baseless malice through his creation of racial attitudes in the play.
Point 2: Iago’s villainy is shown as he creates misogyny in the play.
ANT: He only perpetuates existing stereotypes rather than creates them.
, Thesis: Ultimately Shakespeare characterises Iago as an omnipotent maleficent figure who holds all the control
and power in the play.
Point 1: Shakespeare presents both Iago’s malignancy and his power through his use of storytelling in the play.
creates narratives -> From the beginning of the play creates racist attitudes , then sexualises Desdemona, link
this to turn virtue into pitch and how this has no real aim except that he gets a kick from it.
Ao5: Classic coleridge, some honningman ideas of words in the play analyse however that he did not get on
top.
TRY to NOT do more than 3 Critics / paragraph and try to instead evaluate them fully
Point 2: Shakespeare depicts Iago’s cruel control over the play through his manipulation of the plot and the
staging.
Iago’s soliloquy, the scene with Cassio, and then act 5: 1
Ao5:
critics talking about IAgo and staging,
ANT: It can however, be argued that Iago’s power is completely superficial as he himself is an outsider whose
mechanisms are of no significant consequence.
Outsider -> he has no control or sway as he is incompetent and insecure, arguing that their marriage was
doomed from the start.
As Shakespeare’s last tragedy Othello displays the experienced nature of Shakespeare’s craft through the
complexity etched in every element of this play; from the unconventional use of the tragic format to the
nuanced characterisation of the titular figures. Yet within this cast, it's poignant to note that Iago, the villain,
was noted by Bradley to be “supreme among Shakespeare’s evil characters” (In Shakespearean Tragedy)
suggestive of his rich and alluring presentation. Through Iago acting as the mastermind preceding the plot and
the sentiments of the audience, it becomes starkly clear that through Iago Shakespeare experiments with both
the nature and medium of power and villainy within theatre and society. Thereby, Shakespeare presents Iago
as a maleficent figure who utilises distinct methods to acquire power and withhold control in the play.
Shakspeare presents Iago’s despicable characterisation and power through his eloquent use of storytelling in
the play. Block emphasises that “in plays it is usually the one who has the best words who comes out on top”,
and this is shown in Othello through Iago having 1097 lines of dialogue whilst Othello, the tragic hero of the
play, only has 887. Such a vast difference in lines seems intentional, especially when considering Iago’s origin.
Shakespeare’s Iago is an adaptation of the ‘ensign’ character from Hecatommithi who is a 2D simplistic villain,
of such individual insignificance that he does not have a name . Therefore, in order to empower him
Shakespeare bestows him with the power of storytelling through which he will “pour pestilence into thine ear”
and turn “virtue into pitch”, the alliterative plosives signify the strength of the power he wields. Whilst
“pestilence” is symbolic of corruption and works to emphasise the juxtaposition between ‘virtue’ and ‘pitch’.
Indeed, the motif of duality is central to the play, and through this metaphor of poison, Iago accurately
presents his method of villainy as the conductor of that duality through his ‘words’ or ‘story telling’. Here the
distinction from words to storytelling, leans on Block's use of ‘best’, where previously ‘best’ was half
haphazardly attributed to the most, it is clear that by best it is the medium of his speech which holds the
greatest significance. The medium Iago presents is that of narration, from the very first scene Iago weaves the
narratives, from defining himself; “I am not what I am”, to introducing Othello with a lexical cluster of racist
imagery; “His Moorship”, “Thick lips”, “Barbary Horse”, the subtle remarks so effective that Brabantio adopts
these attitudes casting racist stereotypes onto Othello’s character, defining his love by “foul charms” and
ridiculing their love as lust, “sooty bosom”. The reference to ‘foul charms’ is a clear reflection to Jacobean
contemporary attitudes of the Moor, who depicted people of colour and Muslim descent as exotic,
factors and ideas from your critical reading.
BLURT: WHAT/ WHO is Iago? A VIllian, a Malcontent, a god, Shakespeare himself?? Who: pure evil? a
comedian, severely mishandled or just a menace. Where does his villainy come from? Insecurity, is he
projecting in order to pretend he has power? Is he successful, what does he actually want>
Motives;
- Repressed Homosexuality
- Hate against the ‘system’
- Lust and misogyny
- Self hatred and insecurity-> which yields jealousy motives (Both Iago and Othello are jealous of one
another )
Reveals:
- Duplicitous identity of man
- Power of stagecraft and drama
- Ambiguous identity---
Easier to first considering how he goes about achieving this: Broadly-> His social control, puppetry of all
characters on stage, he uses multiple mediums to achieve this, sexual language, reputation (his and others),
social rankings (dropping Cassio’s), Encouraging others insecurities (Race), Story Telling, Turning virtue into
pitch, Comedy -> Words - appealing to the audience and Othello.
A lot of Ao5 to consider for Iago, focus and choose AFTER Thesis
Ao3:
- Hechatometti
- Hedonistic Tragedy
- Machiavellian Villain
- Malcontent
- Social standing
- Other Shakespearean villains
- Nihilism (philosophical)
- Revenge tragedy
Thesis: Ultimately, Shakespeare presents Iago as an insecure outsider, who perpetuates his own insecurities
upon others.
Point 1: Iago perpetuates his sexual insecurity onto Othello.
Point 2: Iago perpetuates his societal inferiority onto Othello.
ANT: He is a motiveless malign and delights in giving pain, rather than jealousy based on insecurities.// ANT:
Othello and IAgo are simply the same character.
Thesis: Ultimately, Shakespeare characteristics Iago as a villain figure, whose intentions are to create harmful
stereotypes in the play.
Point 1: Iago spreads baseless malice through his creation of racial attitudes in the play.
Point 2: Iago’s villainy is shown as he creates misogyny in the play.
ANT: He only perpetuates existing stereotypes rather than creates them.
, Thesis: Ultimately Shakespeare characterises Iago as an omnipotent maleficent figure who holds all the control
and power in the play.
Point 1: Shakespeare presents both Iago’s malignancy and his power through his use of storytelling in the play.
creates narratives -> From the beginning of the play creates racist attitudes , then sexualises Desdemona, link
this to turn virtue into pitch and how this has no real aim except that he gets a kick from it.
Ao5: Classic coleridge, some honningman ideas of words in the play analyse however that he did not get on
top.
TRY to NOT do more than 3 Critics / paragraph and try to instead evaluate them fully
Point 2: Shakespeare depicts Iago’s cruel control over the play through his manipulation of the plot and the
staging.
Iago’s soliloquy, the scene with Cassio, and then act 5: 1
Ao5:
critics talking about IAgo and staging,
ANT: It can however, be argued that Iago’s power is completely superficial as he himself is an outsider whose
mechanisms are of no significant consequence.
Outsider -> he has no control or sway as he is incompetent and insecure, arguing that their marriage was
doomed from the start.
As Shakespeare’s last tragedy Othello displays the experienced nature of Shakespeare’s craft through the
complexity etched in every element of this play; from the unconventional use of the tragic format to the
nuanced characterisation of the titular figures. Yet within this cast, it's poignant to note that Iago, the villain,
was noted by Bradley to be “supreme among Shakespeare’s evil characters” (In Shakespearean Tragedy)
suggestive of his rich and alluring presentation. Through Iago acting as the mastermind preceding the plot and
the sentiments of the audience, it becomes starkly clear that through Iago Shakespeare experiments with both
the nature and medium of power and villainy within theatre and society. Thereby, Shakespeare presents Iago
as a maleficent figure who utilises distinct methods to acquire power and withhold control in the play.
Shakspeare presents Iago’s despicable characterisation and power through his eloquent use of storytelling in
the play. Block emphasises that “in plays it is usually the one who has the best words who comes out on top”,
and this is shown in Othello through Iago having 1097 lines of dialogue whilst Othello, the tragic hero of the
play, only has 887. Such a vast difference in lines seems intentional, especially when considering Iago’s origin.
Shakespeare’s Iago is an adaptation of the ‘ensign’ character from Hecatommithi who is a 2D simplistic villain,
of such individual insignificance that he does not have a name . Therefore, in order to empower him
Shakespeare bestows him with the power of storytelling through which he will “pour pestilence into thine ear”
and turn “virtue into pitch”, the alliterative plosives signify the strength of the power he wields. Whilst
“pestilence” is symbolic of corruption and works to emphasise the juxtaposition between ‘virtue’ and ‘pitch’.
Indeed, the motif of duality is central to the play, and through this metaphor of poison, Iago accurately
presents his method of villainy as the conductor of that duality through his ‘words’ or ‘story telling’. Here the
distinction from words to storytelling, leans on Block's use of ‘best’, where previously ‘best’ was half
haphazardly attributed to the most, it is clear that by best it is the medium of his speech which holds the
greatest significance. The medium Iago presents is that of narration, from the very first scene Iago weaves the
narratives, from defining himself; “I am not what I am”, to introducing Othello with a lexical cluster of racist
imagery; “His Moorship”, “Thick lips”, “Barbary Horse”, the subtle remarks so effective that Brabantio adopts
these attitudes casting racist stereotypes onto Othello’s character, defining his love by “foul charms” and
ridiculing their love as lust, “sooty bosom”. The reference to ‘foul charms’ is a clear reflection to Jacobean
contemporary attitudes of the Moor, who depicted people of colour and Muslim descent as exotic,
