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Summary A* AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE OTHELLO ESSAY - 2017 - ‘Iago’s villainy is fiendish and inexplicable.’
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A* AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE OTHELLO ESSAY - 2017 - ‘Iago’s villainy is fiendish and inexplicable.’
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2017 - ‘Iagoʼs villainy is fiendish andinexplicable.ʼ
Iagoʼs motivation being one of social class.
Iagoʼs hatred for Cassio revealing his psychology.
Iagoʼs betrayal of Roderigo.
Iago being the devil.
As the play draws to an end and Iagoʼs plot is revealed by Emilia his last line of “from this time
forth I never will speak word” is what has allowed his character to go down in theatre history.
For centuries critics have argued what motivated Iago as the numerous reasons he gives
throughout the play for destroying Othello and Desdemonaʼs alongside his other tragic victims
lives remain somewhat vague and inexplicable on the surface level. In this essay I will therefore
discuss to what extent Iagoʼs villainy is fiendish and can be viewed as inexplicable.
The critic Coleridge stated that Iago motives can be seen as stemming from a “motiveless
malignity” rooted deep inside himself. This idea, however, that Iago is simply evil because he is
evil much like Emilia states how men are “not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they are
jealous” appears rather insubstantial for the larger themes of the play and the ultimate chaos
that Iago creates. However, the parallels between Iago evil being simply because he is and
jealous souls being jealous because they are, creates an idea in the audience that Iagoʼs
motivation itself may be jealousy. The most direct example of this is his admission in Act I Scene
I when he reveals that he has been passed up for a promotion by Othello who instead gave it to
the “spinster” and “Florentine” Michael Cassio who became “lieutenant”. This promotion would
have elevated Iago into the upper-class alongside Othello and Desdemona however as he is
neglected of the position, he feels the betrayal of a friend and additionally the struggle of the
working class attempting to move up into the bourgeoise. This is one of the first examples of
Iagoʼs motivation which stems from this anger he feels to Othello because he was overlooked. In
Act I Scene III, his repetition of the line “put money in thy purse” to Roderigo expresses Iagoʼs
jealousy and revenge in mercenary terms as it becomes clear that he has been using Roderigo
for money which Roderigo believed was being used to court Desdemona. Through this, Iago
becomes introduced as not only the Machiavellian tragic villain who uses deceit and means of
manipulation to meet his unscrupulous ends, but also a Malcontent who is unsatisfied with his
position in society and society itself.
As Iagoʼs power and influence increases as the play progresses, the play begins to take on a
much more cynical tone where other characters begin to view the world in a similar light to Iago
who takes on a Machiavellian approach to life as he believes that in order to succeed, he must
be duplicitous and cunning. Through this, he contrasts Cassio who represents the “better man”
as stated by critics. It becomes clear that Iago cannot bear human virtue in any form talking
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