Having already read Othello for previous classes it never seems to disappoint, but the reason is because I can’t but stop and like Iago as a character in this play. The way he’s so sneaky about what he does and so good at it is what makes all the little turns makes the play so intriguing. Iago seems to have such a clever way of creating this illusion for people, while he says one thing he makes it come off as something entirely different. Just like how he made Othello believe that Cassio was talking about Desdemona, but he wasn’t at all instead he was talking about Bianca’s sexual advances on him.
Iago has been able to plant his poisonous seed so deep into Othello’s mind that he can control Othello into doing whatever he pleases. Othello goes so far as to hit Desdemona when Lodovico comes to deliver a message for him. That’s where you know Iago has corrupted Othello so much, because Lodovico is so shocked that the man he once knew would do something like that. He says “My lord, this would not be believed in Venice” (Line 270 Act IV Scene 1). Meaning that Othello would have never done something to that extent that even people back home wouldn’t believe that would happen. Iago is my favorite character in this play by far. His whole agenda and quest for vengeance is thought-provoking at the least.
6 thoughts on “Othello Act IV – Sly Poison”
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I also find Iago as an interesting character because in my opinion he serves as the center of the play, in which all characters and their actions revolve around what he does and says. In the play, Iago is able to manipulate a majority of the characters into doing what he wants them to do. This serves as his greatest achievement and his greatest fault. The intertwined nature of the characters and is ultimately what leads to Iago’s downfall. But prior to actually being caught, Iago is a noteworthy character from his understanding of basic human psychology.
Although Iago is the antagonist of this play, the main characters frustrate me more than Iago does. Because of Iago’s strong hatred and jealousy of the higher ranking soldiers, he plots to get his promotion. In the process, he plans to destroy everyone in his way. Till the end, his plans were perfectly executed and the results were exactly how he wanted them to be. Regardless of how grand Iago’s plans were it doesn’t take much for Othello to stop and actually think about the occurring events.
Even if Othello hadn’t realized he was being set up, he should’ve at least tried to confront Desdemona and Cassio about the affair. Had Othello confronted the two, they would’ve cleared up the misunderstanding and prevented the events that followed in the later acts.
I definitely agree that Iago is a very interesting character. Iago’s actions throughout the play are very well thought out and calculated. I think his quest for vengeance is a very important aspect of the play. As we continue reading the play we see how the quest plays an important role in the actions that the characters make. This ultimately is all because of Iago’s quest and actions. Normally at first glance, it would seem that Othello would be the character causing these issues but ultimately Iago is the protagonist.
Iago is definitely the reason for every argument in this play. From the first argument between Barbantio and othello till now, its all been due to Iago. It’s intriguing how Iago is able to change characters so quickly. He isn’t dumb at all, he knows exactly what to say and how to guide the conversation to his liking and the moment that he says what he wants to say we say the infection spread. Once his job is done is backs away letting the others get consumed by it. Innocent Iago, I feel is a perfect description of him due to that being one of his “characters/personalities”. To others it seems to be like he is the one who doesn’t get too involved since he is so quite during the argument but in reality he is the seed to this poisonous plant.
Iago is not only very smart in the way that he manipulates the situation, as you said with his “illusion” of Cassio talking about Desdemona when he is actually talking about Bianca, he is very good at taking advantage of other characters’ weaknesses/flaws. He took advantage of Othello’s insecurities (such as race: being black and hence “undesirable” as well as age) to achieve most of this; Cassio and his reputation for being a flirt/lady’s man so that it is not hard for Othello to believe the affair; Roderigo’s lust for Desdemona, allowing him to basically control Roderigo for his wealth and as a pawn in his plots; and last but not least Emilia, who he sees as a woman who wants his affection, so he gets her to steal D’s handkerchief.
So from the other characters’ flaws, Iago is able to go through with his plots. However, although I thought that Iago’s character is truly ingenious, this is also what made the tragedy “Othello” to be quite simple; Iago wasn’t challenged whatsoever in the play and he just got to do whatever he wanted. No other character was able to stand up to him (in wits) or come even close. This, I thought, was what made the tragedy a little plain. Of course it was still interesting to see how Iago was able to take down Othello.
I agree. I feel like Iago surprised me because I didn’t expect the play to, in a way, revolve around him instead of Othello and, because of this, we get to see more of how he thinks and also get “insider” knowledge—seeing as he is basically the only character who knows more than others in the play. I was also surprised that he doesn’t just play a normal villain, but a kind of a psychological master mind that works behind the scenes playing with Othello’s mind and manipulating him just exactly how he wants to. In the end, what’s really interesting, though, is that his “master” plan, which has worked perfectly, is destroyed by an obvious factor he didn’t take into consideration, Emilia, which says a lot about the character.