“Oh, no, he goes into Mauritania and taketh away / with him the fair Desdemona, unless his abode be / lingered here by some accident—wherein none / can be so determinate as the removing of Cassio” (Othello, Act 4, Scene 2, lines 257-260).
Iago as a character is pretty much the definition of evil. He feels no remorse for any of the actions that he does and is able to act on with no mistake. Throughout the play he is able to commit horrible acts towards Othello because he justifies his own actions by believing that Othello has it coming. Iago stated before that he’s doing this because he didn’t get the promotion and he thinks that his wife, Emilia, had an affair with Othello. He doesn’t care for what his actions might cause and controls everyone around him in order to do so. Iago literally treats everyone as his own personal puppets and without them even knowing. Roderigo is a clear example of this. From the start, Iago makes it quite clear he is only using Roderigo and is in no way helping him get Desdemona to like him. He even says later on in the following act that he would be taking Roderigo’s money, and he does it! What’s even worse is that by act 4 even though Iago has stolen Roderigo’s money, he is still able to trick Roderigo into thinking that he’s still trying to help him. He is able to trick Roderigo up until the very end of the play where he takes Roderigo’s life in a conflict in order for there to be no witnesses and to further advance his plans. In addition, he even uses his wife for his plans. He tricks her into thinking that he means no harm and is able to have her do multiple things in order to advance his plans. He is truly evil because he is able to control everyone around him, having no problem with any of it.
