0 1 Othello – William Shakespeare
‘In Othello, Iago’s skills make him a likeable anti-hero rather than a hateful villain.’
In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Iago’s attitudes to love in
this
extract and elsewhere in the play.
[25 marks]
IAGO Come, come; good wine is a good familiar creature if
it be well used: exclaim no more against it. And, good
Lieutenant, I think you think I love you.
CASSIO I have well approved it, sir. I drunk!
IAGO You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man.
I’ll tell you what you shall do. Our General’s wife is
now the General. I may say so in this respect, for that
he hath devoted and given up himself to the contempla-
tion, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces.
Confess yourself freely to her; importune her help to
put you in your place again. She is of so free, so kind, so
apt, so blessed a disposition, that she holds it a vice in her
goodness not to do more than she is requested. This
broken joint between you and her husband, entreat her
to splinter; and my fortunes against any lay worth
naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger than
it was before.
CASSIO You advise me well.
IAGO I protest in the sincerity of love and honest kind-
ness.
CASSIO I think it freely; and betimes in the morning I will
beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me.
I am desperate of my fortunes if they check me here.
IAGO You are in the right. Good night, Lieutenant, I must
to the watch.
CASSIO Good night, honest Iago. Exit
IAGO
And what’s he then that says I play the villain,
When this advice is free I give, and honest,
Probal to thinking, and indeed the course
To win the Moor again? For ’tis most easy
Th’inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit. She’s framed as fruitful
, As the free elements; and then for her
To win the Moor, were’t to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemèd sin,
His soul is so enfettered to her love,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows
As I do now. For whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear:
That she repeals him for her body’s lust,
And by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.
(Act 2, Scene 3)
Typically in literature, the title of an ‘antihero’ encapsulates a character
with internal struggles, who embraces a flawed morality and ambiguous
character. Contrastingly, a ‘powerful villain’ typically displays traits such
as intelligence and a sense of purpose. We can see traits of both of these
archetypes in the character of Iago, whose clever and twisted skills
revolving around love cause the audience to fluctuate between being
drawn in and repelled by his methods. Shakespeare may have been
aiming to demonstrate how changing societal conventions regarding love
challenge our perception of Iago’s character. Alternatively, he could have
been making a criticism of the moral imperfections that society shares
which causes any uncertainty about the likeability of Iago’s undeniably
flawed character.
Iago casts aside all values of love and what they stand for. When he says
“we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our
unbated lusts”, we are exposed to Iago’s disgust towards the values that
love holds, particularly those of physicality, or sexual desire. It is these
virtues of honesty and commitment which are shown so unwaveringly
through Othello and Desdemona’s relationship at the beginning of the
play, which Iago is so intent in vandalising. Othello’s sexuality is the cause
‘In Othello, Iago’s skills make him a likeable anti-hero rather than a hateful villain.’
In the light of this view, discuss how Shakespeare presents Iago’s attitudes to love in
this
extract and elsewhere in the play.
[25 marks]
IAGO Come, come; good wine is a good familiar creature if
it be well used: exclaim no more against it. And, good
Lieutenant, I think you think I love you.
CASSIO I have well approved it, sir. I drunk!
IAGO You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man.
I’ll tell you what you shall do. Our General’s wife is
now the General. I may say so in this respect, for that
he hath devoted and given up himself to the contempla-
tion, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces.
Confess yourself freely to her; importune her help to
put you in your place again. She is of so free, so kind, so
apt, so blessed a disposition, that she holds it a vice in her
goodness not to do more than she is requested. This
broken joint between you and her husband, entreat her
to splinter; and my fortunes against any lay worth
naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger than
it was before.
CASSIO You advise me well.
IAGO I protest in the sincerity of love and honest kind-
ness.
CASSIO I think it freely; and betimes in the morning I will
beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me.
I am desperate of my fortunes if they check me here.
IAGO You are in the right. Good night, Lieutenant, I must
to the watch.
CASSIO Good night, honest Iago. Exit
IAGO
And what’s he then that says I play the villain,
When this advice is free I give, and honest,
Probal to thinking, and indeed the course
To win the Moor again? For ’tis most easy
Th’inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit. She’s framed as fruitful
, As the free elements; and then for her
To win the Moor, were’t to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemèd sin,
His soul is so enfettered to her love,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows
As I do now. For whiles this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear:
That she repeals him for her body’s lust,
And by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all.
(Act 2, Scene 3)
Typically in literature, the title of an ‘antihero’ encapsulates a character
with internal struggles, who embraces a flawed morality and ambiguous
character. Contrastingly, a ‘powerful villain’ typically displays traits such
as intelligence and a sense of purpose. We can see traits of both of these
archetypes in the character of Iago, whose clever and twisted skills
revolving around love cause the audience to fluctuate between being
drawn in and repelled by his methods. Shakespeare may have been
aiming to demonstrate how changing societal conventions regarding love
challenge our perception of Iago’s character. Alternatively, he could have
been making a criticism of the moral imperfections that society shares
which causes any uncertainty about the likeability of Iago’s undeniably
flawed character.
Iago casts aside all values of love and what they stand for. When he says
“we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our
unbated lusts”, we are exposed to Iago’s disgust towards the values that
love holds, particularly those of physicality, or sexual desire. It is these
virtues of honesty and commitment which are shown so unwaveringly
through Othello and Desdemona’s relationship at the beginning of the
play, which Iago is so intent in vandalising. Othello’s sexuality is the cause
