Iago is the most intriguing character of “Othello” because he drives the whole play. He is an evil person who gets satisfaction from making others’ lives unhappy and miserable. Besides the fact that he is a morally bad person who lacks love and compassion, there are some motivations that drive him to do all these bad things toward others, especially Othello and his wife Desdemona. One of the reasons that Iago becomes furious with Othello is because he wasn’t promoted to the rank of lieutenant. This fact makes him seek revenge on Othello. Furthermore, Iago is convinced that Othello slept with Emilia, Iago’s wife. To make matters worse, Iago’s marriage lacks mutual love and respect. There are some other possible reasons behind Iago’s behavior that may explain some of his cruel acts, but certainly being unfulfilled, unhappy, and bad in nature make him who he is. Iago is one of the darkest characters in all of Shakespeare’s plays. By creating a character as nasty as Iago, Shakespeare was able to keep the audience interested and thrilled throughout the whole play. Iago’s monologue is one way in which Shakespeare reveals Iago’s true thoughts to the reader before any other character in the play knows, that makes the reader more involved.
Very good point bout Iago’s motivation being his own unhappiness. However, I’d also like to add that I feel like he deceives the audience as well. The way his language is in his monologue is sometimes vague and leaves things to the imagination. He is a very dark and intriguing character indeed.
I agree with your statement that Iago is in fact one of the most intriguing characters in Shakespeare’s play. Iago is motivated to destroy Othello’s life because of his jealousy towards Othello promoting Cassio to lieutenant and the belief that Othello had an affair with his wife Emilia. Iago wasn’t necessarily intending to destroy Desdemona’s life. Desdemona was merely used as a tool to get revenge on Othello because Iago knew how much Othello cared for his wife. Iago’s soliloquies allows the audience to see and hear his true intentions and future plans.