How Does Shakespeare Present Iago's Manipulation of Othello?

Within this essay I am going to explore Iago's character and analyze his manipulation of Othello mainly in Act 3 Scene 3 but before that I will investigate his motives for plotting in such a dramatic way toward Othello.

Othello was written in 1604 by William Shakespeare to be preformed to King James I, the new king. Many of the literal themes he wrote about such as Turkish History, witchcraft and 'black' magic were put in the play deliberately as he knew the new King was interested in them. The character who the play is named after interestingly is not the one with the most lines. Othello, or the Moor of Venice, is a strong solider who is greatly experienced on the battlefield has one fatal flaw, his many years of combat has rendered him less able in domestic situations which later becomes his down fall. Within this play Shakespeare brings alive a true villain by the name of Iago, who could arguably be the main character in the play, changing the lives of every character in the story through the means of manipulation. When Shakespeare wrote the play Spain would have been an enemy of England and 'Iago' being a Spanish name would almost instantly turn the audience against him. The way Shakespeare portrays Iago, who is a white man, as a negative character, and Othello, who is black, as a positive character or a hero would have been a very new age attitude to put forward in play as it put forward a negative attitude towards racism. Another interpretation of this could have been a positive attitude toward racism as the white character is indefinitely in control over every other character especially the black man which again could cater to the prejudices at the time.

In Shakespeare's Othello the audience is presented with a classic battle between the deceitful forces of evil and the innocent or some would say naive forces of good. Many theatre critics have questioned Iago's main motivation for eventually destroying Othello. At the start of the play we clearly hear Iago profess that he hates the Moor but how can we know that he is telling the truth? He is in the presence of Roderigo and while he speaks with him the reader can hardly pick the truth from the lies that Iago tells. The main impression the audience is given in the first scene in the play is Iago's self righteous resentment and anger towards the Moor and secondly Rodrigo's love of Desdemona; the way that Iago manipulate Roderigo's anger towards him and manipulate him in a way that Roderigo will later agree and adhere to anything Iago does or says is a good indication of what type of person Iago actually is. From the first time the audience see Iago they know he has deceived Roderigo, someone who thought of him as a friend. The line 'Despise me if I do not' embodies Iago's character, trying to avoid problems by influencing other's minds whilst endearing him towards them. An interesting point that critics have made is that one of the main way's that he can manipulate others is by letting them feel that they have authority over Iago, for example, the way he builds a bond of trust between him and Othello is by 'confiding' in him, making Othello feel that as Iago has confided in him he is in a position to be a better person to Iago. When Shakespeare writes 'Despise' it leaves an impact in the audiences mind throughout the play the language Iago uses when he is in the company of his 'betters' is far more subdued so immediately you can see the contrast of how he uses his language which is also an indication of how he values Roderigo as a friend and as a being in the natural order.

There are two main motivations that Iago has, both which are spoken about in the first scene, the first being the fact that Cassio has been given the lieutenant position in the army by Othello that Iago though he deserved rather than the 'ignorant, ill-suited' Cassio so it is clear that Iago resents Othello for that reason but the other is that in Venice, where most of the characters in the play live, Iago has heard a rumour that Othello has slept with his wife Emilia which could anger any man, and his bitterness is clear when he says 'twixt my sheets he has done my office'. The situation involving Othello and Emilia plays a more minor part in Iago's reasoning, consumed by envy over the realisation that a less deserving person has secured that position he starts to plot how he will return it to its rightful owner, as we learn later on Iago is willing to lie, steal and even kill, however indirectly, which gives his character given added depth by Shakespeare as the audience discovers his amorality, or even a sociopathic nature, because if he wants to take this position from Cassio he must not let his conscience get in his way.

For someone to continuously lie and deceive the people closest to them one must be evil or lack the necessary morality which is also evident in a sociopathic character. The fact that most of the characters in the play refer to him as 'Honest Iago' is highly ironic and also mildly infuriating for the audience as they can tell what his real character is like.

Othello and Desdemona's relationship was not conventional to the extreme when the play was written, many would presume that if a white woman declared her love for a black man, that he had probably used some type of dark magic and had bewitched her into loving or marrying him. Desdemona's father shows this particular prejudice when he first finds out about his daughter's marriage even though as Othello states later on before that he and Brabantio were friends, as he says 'Her father loved me'. The start of the play lets the audience clearly see different characters attitudes towards Othello, we can clearly see that the council of Venice can see through his racial background and just see him as the solider they need in their city; Iago reveals he hates the Moor but later says that he is bound to him and the audience can tell that he will continue to feign love for Othello as long as he needs to while he is carrying on with his plot to get Cassio's position. Roderigo visibly hates Othello, the main reason being that he has married Desdemona, the woman he loves, the second being that Roderigo is racist and doesn't like the fact that a black man is in power; finally Brabantio, who seemed to have withdrawn his altogether more amiable opinion of Othello since he discovered that Othello had married his daughter behind his back.

Act 3 Scene 3 is known as 'the seduction scene' or 'the manipulation scene' where Othello figuratively 'divorces' Desdemona and 'marries' Iago. The scene starts with Iago planting a seed of doubt in Othello's mind, as soon as the couple walk on Desdemona and Cassio exit prompting Iago to say