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York Carter 12th Grade English Othello Essay- First Draft 12-12-09 __Iago - Masquerading Under the Guise of Kindness__ Throughout Othello, the villain of the play, Iago, is perceived as being honest, sincere, and trustworthy in Othello's eyes. This would make you think that Othello is very naive and can't see through the nonsense. This becomes more evident as the play progresses. I say this because Iago is in fact a conniving, selfish person who cares only to destroy the relationship between Othello and his love, Desdemona. These cruel intentions are what drive the play, and give it its edge.

Iago is has no shame in what he does. You'd think that since you have Othello's respect, that would be enough for you to leave him alone, but apparently not. There are several occasions where Iago alludes to how honest he is, which is a boldface lie. For instance, "As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound; there is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition: oft got without merit, and lost without deserving: you have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser. What, man! there are ways to recover the general again: you are but now cast in his mood, a punishment more in policy than in malice, even so as one would beat his offenceless dog to affright an imperious lion: sue to him again, and he's yours."(Shakespeare, 99) It gets to the point where you have to take a minute out, and decipher what tone he's talking in; a sarcastic one or a sincere one.

Another factor that I found to highlight Iago’s sinister personality is how Othello is scorned throughout the play. The constant reference as the moor is one example of this. Though it’s not exactly a cruel intentioned insult, it’s still an insult that categorizes Othello as just another dark skinned person, rather than an individual. So it would seem that the point I’m getting at is that Othello’s pitiful to some degree. It would also seem that Othello is gullible to believe Iago's sincere. Perhaps this is because Othello is desperate for a friend. Perhaps he just wants someone to rely on, and impulsively sees Iago as this person. Othello never really doubted Iago's truthfulness, which caused him much trouble. Iago also uses various manipulation methods throughout the book to get what he wants, as selfish as it is. Not just Othello is victimized by Iago, but Othello's Lieutenant, Michael Cassio as well. One occasion is when Iago gets Cassio drunk. Cassio continually rejected Iago's offer of liquor, however, eventually, Cassio relented, and drank. The horror of this situation is that as a result, the governor of Cyprus, Montano was stabbed by a drunk Michael Cassio. Ultimately, Cassio is demoted from his lieutenancy, all thanks to "honest honest" Iago. Iago later suggests to Cassio that he come between Othello and Desdemona, since that is one objective of Iago. Iago’s cruel disposition is substantiated by Othello’s innocent demeanor. Iago has no relent when dealing with others, particularly Othello. As if being called a moor constantly wasn't enough, Iago lead him to believe Desdemona was cheating on him. This brings us to yet another angle of Iago's cruel personality; jealousy. You can derive that jealousy was at the root for was the root for Iago to make Othello believe Desdemona is cheating on him. See here; "Iago- If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend, for if it touch not you, it comes near nobody. Othello- I will chop her into messes! Cuckold me?" (185) This demonstrates how angry Othello was after hearing the false news. "Cutting her into messes" would definitely imply that Othello would either want to hurt her, or perhaps even kill her. Something else that disproves "Honest honest" Iago to be in fact dishonest. Iago creates a humble image of himself to get away with his dishonest acts. One conclusion I came to is that since Iago is always arbitrarily throwing the word "honest" around, in reference to himself, it might give the impression of sincerity. Eventually, Othello seemed to begin to call Iago honest, and it would seem it sort of became routine to use the word "honest" in particular. Eventually, Othello confronts Desdemona about her faithfulness, waking her up from her sleep. When Othello accuses her of being unfaithful, she continually denies it, and claims she's innocent, which she is. for instance, Othello says "Therefore confess thee freely of sin. For deny each article with oath cannot remove nor choke the strong conception that I do groan withal. thou art to die." (239) Othello's anger drives him to kill Desdemona by smothering her. This all rooted from Iago's lies. When i read this, I didn't see at as Othello killing Desdemona. Instead I saw it as Iago killing Desdemona. The handkerchief, which was Othello first, substantial gift given to Desdemona, is noticed by Iago. Iago plans to use it against Othello, and asks Emilia to swipe it. Emilia agrees to do this, not knowing the purpose behind it. Iago plans to make it seem as though Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair by planting the handkerchief within Cassio’s possession. Once again, Iago’s objective of splitting Othello and Desdemona is displayed by this action. Not only is this plan potential to break Othello’s heart, but at the same time it’s depicting Cassio as the evil one. While reading this, I was thinking to myself that this would be believable because after all, cassio is seen as the “lady’s man”. In Act 5, Iago sets up Cassio to kill Roderigo, a man who was envious of Othello for being in a relationship with Desdemona. The reason for this would be for Iago to kill Roderigo, and frame Cassio afterwards. Since Cassio had already stabbed Montano, giving himself a bad name, people would believe this, which is the key to Iago's scheme. This is very demonstrative of Iago's manipulation techniques. Iago's a very convincing being. Perhaps his "honest" portrayal is a strong reason for this, moreover, his bad intentions also play a role in this situation. Basically, I saw Iago as a very determined character, in spite of his cruel conniving demeanor. If you cruel intentions, you most likely won't care what manner they're done in; you just want your goal to be achieved. Those with good intentions take the time to make sure their actions don't harm others. This explains Iago's determination in my opinion.

Conclusively, it would seem that Othello being the kind innocent of person makes Iago's cruel intentions that much bitter, and evil. Iago takes advantage of Othello's naivete, and it would seem that it does not phase Iago whatsoever. Iago's hatred, and dishonest disposition causes him to take advantage of Othello on more than one occasion. Iago’s drive is like none other. He has the motivation to perform his schemes successfully. As mentioned earlier, since Iago’s intentions are wrong, and immoral, the manner they’re done in won’t be any more moral. I also believe that Iago is can be seen as the serial killer of the play. For instance, though Cassio killed Roderigo, and Othello killed Desdemona, Iago was the murderer. Basically, He’s the “puppet master” of the play. In short, if it weren’t for Iago, those murdered throughout the play would never have been murdered, and feelings of discomfort would either be spread a lot less, or not spread at all.

Works cited: Othello by William O Copyright 1993- The Folger Shakespeare Library