Who's To Blame? Are you Kidding Me, Use Your Brain! It's Obviously Iago.Mass murder, jealousy, and deception. It isn’t up for debate, Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Othello, is one of the most tragic plays written by the famous author. It’s no secret Othello ends in an unfortunate turn of events for the main characters however, who is to blame for this tragic outcome isn’t as obvious. When discussing this topic, many characters names are thrown into the ring; but it is very obvious, Cassio is the main perpetrator, he is the reason this play is considered a tragedy. Iago is a master of manipulation, he has every character eating out of the palm of his hands. Infact, without Iago’s deceit in almost every scene, it is safe to say the tragedy would never even happen. Iago even recognizes the fact that he is playing everyone when he says “Thus do i ever make my fool my purse” (I, iii, 426). He is referring to the fact that he has Rodrigo thinking his payments are helping his cause, to court Desdemona, but really Iago is manipulating him for his own personal gain. In another instance Iago displays his master of manipulation, Cassio is standing guard while the army is celebrating. Iago devised a plan to get Cassio drunk on the job, he stated, “If I can fasten but one cup upon him With that which he hath drunk tonight already, He'll be as full of quarrel and offense As my young mistress' dog.” (II, iii, 49-52). Iago planned to make Cassio, the man who had the lieutenant job he wanted, look bad by getting him intoxicated on the job. Cassio had no idea of Iago’s true intentions; he thought that Iago was being a friend, and keeping him company by drinking with him while he stood watch. In every relationship Iago has, he wears two different masks. One mask is his personable/friendly mask, the only side of him his oblivious victims see. This mask portrays him as a loyal friend, and a trustworthy source- “honest Iago”. This is evident when Iago is making Othello think he has some bad news, but is reluctant to tell Othello because he doesn’t want to hurt his friends feelings. Iago states, "It were not for your quiet nor your good, / Nor for my manhood, honesty, or wisdom, / To let you know my thoughts" (III, iii, 152-154). His other mask is the mask only the audience and Iago know about, we are aware of this side of Iago through his devious asides. Iago’s other mask represents his personality; it shows how he only cares about himself and only pursues things that will help boost his status. This is evident when iago explains his hate for Othello, “Though I do hate him as I do hell pains, Yet, for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and sign of love— Which is indeed but sign. (I, i, 171-174). Othello is very nice to Othello in person, but he then makes remarks like the one described to illustrate his true feeling for Othello. Iago has the same relationship with other characters.
Shakespeare… Oh God :(SHAKESPEARE IS NOT A WALK IN THE PARK. Ok, we know… It’s common knowledge. Here me out though, I am making a point. For the last four centuries Shakespeare’s work has been the gold standard for literature. (Now I’m going to say something controversial, but like I said here me out.) When I started reading his work I honestly didn’t understand what all of the hype was all about. Like really what's so great about him, his writing style is hard to read and the stories are hard to follow. I just didn’t understand what made his work so groundbreaking. As time progressed I learned how to read Shakespeare, and luckily began to understand his literature better. It is important to figure out what reading strategies help you understand Shakespeare better when reading. If you don’t, not only will you not understand what the text is saying analytically, but you will also have a terrible number of weeks in English class. When I read Othello’s first soliloquy in act one “Her father loved me, oft invited me; Still questioned me the story of my life…” (I, iii, 150). When I read my first soliloquy, I was lost. I knew if I didn’t develop some reading strategies, this would be a rough few months. I frankly didn’t pick up on the message the author was trying to convey. As you can see from the chart above, most of act one was pretty difficult for me to read. I knew I had to figure out a solution. I did some research and started implementing the following reading strategies to my literature studies. I began to read the literature out loud, look up words I didn’t understand, re-read things I didn’t understand, and take periodic breaks. As time progressed my reading vastly improved. The strategy that worked best for me was re-reading. often time I would find myself zoning out and becoming a zombie- just mindlessly reading without even thinking about the words in front of me. Re-reading helped me not only better understand what I read, but also helped me pick up things I missed when I became a zombie. Although it is much easier to comprehend when I re-read, I still had some trouble with vocabulary and definitions. Instances when a character uses words like, “clyster pipes” (II, i, 92) or “mutualities” (II, i, 283) it helps to refer to the left hand of the page and view the definitions. Reading strategies made my Shakespeare experience 1,000,000x better. As you can see from the chart above, my overall understanding improved, while my despair and confusion vastly declined. (Not saying the symptoms disappeared, they will always be prevalent when reading Shakespeare.) Before taking on a Shakespearean piece of literature, it is important to figure out what reading strategies work for you. Iago… The Greatest Villain Of All TimeAs an avid follower of the superhero comic book genre, I always judge the villain or the antagonist. The complexity of the villain is what makes the story great, and ultimately more interesting. No matter how notorious the hero is, their story isn’t intriguing if their villain isn’t equally or more menacing as they are. There is an array of traits that make up a good villain. Iago is the best villain in all of history. He takes traits from every infamous villain in all of fiction and combines them all in one
He'll be as full of quarrel and offense As my young mistress' dog. (II, iii, 49-52). Iago uses deceit much like Satan does, he persuades characters into doing things for his own personal gain. Iago is a better villain than Satan is in the book of Genesis because Iago's character has more depth. In Genesis we never really learn about Satan other then he takes the form of a serpent, and resents God’s creations. In Othello we learn about Iago’s family, career, and thoughts- through the form of asides. Hitler never had a clear reason to hate the jews, he just did- he was just flat out evil. The Joker has no reason to hate Batman, he just does. I believe when a villain has no motive, it makes them more menacing. When a character just enjoys seeing the world burn it is terrifying to the audience because we can’t justify their motives. Once Iago regained his position as lieutenant, he still continued to create havoc. As the story progressed Iago's motives became less and less clear. In fact he proclaimed his hatred for Othello without justifying why, “Though I do hate him as I do hell pains, Yet, for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and sign of love— Which is indeed but sign.” (1.1.171-174). Iago is a better villain than Hitler and Joker, both of those characters seem almost completely fictional- characters that can only take life on a piece of paper or in a movie. (Yes I know Hitler was a real person, but his acts are so horrific it is hard to believe he was real.) Iago is a believable character, he is a regular guy. He is a better villain because anybody in your life could be an Iago. Iago, a Shakespearean character from the the early 1600’s is the greatest villain of all time. He draws traits from Satan, Hitler, and the Joker- three of the most infamous villains to date. In addition, in my opinion he outweighs those three behemoths. He uses deceit and manipulation to get his way, and has unclear motives- he genuinely is an evil character.
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