In this act, we see the total cunningness of Iago. Iago was able to fool every character in the play by distorting reality and focus in on what appears to be the truth rather than the truth itself. Iago fools Othello in what appears to be Cassio admitting to sleeping with Desdemona when in fact a confession must be heard and not seen through facial expressions. Another interesting point is the time when Othello is called back to the city and Cassio is going to replace him in Cyprus. This can further anger Othello since Cassio is not only replacing him in his personal life but also in his job.
At the start of the play, we understand why Iago seeks revenge and harm on Othello for choosing Cassio. However, it is interesting to note that when Othello has had enough and chooses to poison his wife in bed, it is not enough for Iago. Iago says, ” Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated.” Iago wants Desdemona to die a harsher death. What has she ever done to him to deserve this punishment?
Perhaps Iago is also jealous of Othello? Other than seeking to avenge his non-lieutenant status, maybe Iago is also jealous of other things that Othello has (like Desdemona) besides power.
Iago seems to dislike women in general so perhaps this why he tells Othello to strangle her. Overall he seems like a very hateful person who has a lot of anger inside. Why doesn’t Othello investigate what is really happening? If he truly loved Desdemona he would.
It feels kind of pity that Othello and other characters, such as Roderigo, Emilia, etc, are all trick by Iago. They step on Iago’s trap that only result in Iago’s own benefits, which Othello is no longer believe in Cassio and Desdemona. They are like puppets that go along with Iago’s plan. It is kind of irony that Iago deceives others, and they still think he is honest. I am not sure why does Iago wants to kill Desdemona. It seems like if Desdemona died, then Roderigo can’t put blame on Iago since Iago knew that the love between Roderigo and Desdemona is not gonna happen. Or maybe he just wants Othello to be harm because he was not grant the title of lieutenant at first.
Iago cunningness is truly something to admire because he does it with such ease and with no regrets. Personally I think he got so wrapped up in getting revenge and doing wrong to others that its gotten to his head. All he has now is anger wrapped up inside of him. That’s why I think he proposes Othello to also strangle her besides just poisoning her. Iago truly does want to be who Othello is, both in his personal and job life. He truly admires him but envies him more and getting rid of everything good that is in Othello’s life is probably the only way he can overpower or even himself out with Othello. Plus Iago doesn’t feel compassion for women, he truly just sees them as objects so getting rid of one more women in the world probably isn’t a big deal to him.
I think Iago urges Othello to strangle Desdemona to fulfill what he has been planning all along. To dent Othello’s name to the fullest. Poisoning her wouldn’t evoke the anger of the people as much as her been strangled. Strangling someone is more intimate and ruthless, it depicts more anger, rage and to a larger extend wild, devoid of emotions and sympathy. Iago’s main aim was to leave Othello with no dignity among the people at all.
ohhhh you know what, that actually makes more sense, ruining Othello’s reputation is exactly what Iago truly wants.
The core reason for Iago’s desire to harm Desdemona is to seek revenge upon Othello in every way possible. From the very beginning when Iago despises Othello for granting lieutenancy to Cassio, Iago wants to create trouble for Othello. Iago’s ways of disrupting peace in Othello’s life include making Othello question Desdemona’s loyalty to him and causing Othello to hit Desdemona out of anger in front of Lodovico. All of his actions are aim at Othello to make him seem like an unreasonable and irrational person. After Lodovico sees Othello’s action towards his wife, Lodovico questions whether Othello is in his right mind: “Are his wits safe? Is he not light of brain?” (Othello 191). Iago successfully made Othello look like nonsense in front of Brabantio’s kinsman.
Iago’s feelings for Desdemona could be depicting a few things.
1. Jealousy: Othello is Desdemona’s husband, however what might be increasing Iago’s jealousy is the fact that Othello is a Moore. Othello’s Moorish descent is brought up multiple times throughout the play. In the beginning, Desdemona’s dad believed he was using magic because of it.
2. Being a Woman: Although women have choice in who they marry, due to the ideas of the time period, it is possible someone gets angry at the woman for making the “wrong choice”. Because of Desdemona’s gender, people take her word less seriously.
I feel like and as we can tell Iago is an extremely jealous person. Especially for him thinking Othello slept with his wife. But yet again they say he hates women and if he sees them as objects why care if his wife was sleeping with Othello if it can easily be replaced unless he’s possessive or an object which means he feels like he owns his wife. Also I believe that maybe he wanted Desdemona to pick him to marry but instead he chooses Othello which probably just added fuels to fire since he’s a Moore. Also maybe since Othello has so much hate towards Desdemona now, no matter what idea Iago tells him he’s going to believe it or do it because Iago showed him so much evidence and proof how he wouldn’t lie to Othello and making him believe everything is true that he could convince Othello to do whatever he wants but why Othello would believe Iago even though he showed her evidence, why not go to the direct source and find out.