"Coleridge was also fascinated by the figure of Iago, and his assessment of the play's enigmatic villain as a "passionless character, all will in intellect" influenced readings of the play for decades (1:49). Indeed, Coleridge's claim that Iago's final soliloquy is best understood as "the motive-hunting of motiveless malignity" (1:49) remains one of the most quoted assessments of Iago to this day. Noting that Othello shares a number of features with traditional morality plays, Spivak argues that Iago is best understood as a version of the stock character Vice, a personification of evil with a dangerously privileged relationship with the audience. Building on Wangh's analysis of Iago as a paranoiac motivated by hatred for the wife of the man
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He openly seems to admit to his duplicity further in this dialogue saying, "I am not what I am" and by being open about this, is purposefully more cryptic in the way he communicates it. Iago openly declares that his persona is not true to the definition that Jung describes." "He claims a reputation for honesty and plain speaking, yet he invents elaborate lies in order to exploit and manipulate other people. He treats others as fools and has no time for tender emotion, yet he is a married man and presumably once loved his wife. He cares for no one, yet he devotes his whole life to revenge rather than walk away in disdain. He believes in cheating and lying for gain. Shakespeare shows us a character who acts against his reputation. Possibly Iago was always a villain and confidence trickster who set up a false reputation for honesty, but how can one set up a reputation for honesty except by being consistently honest over a long period of time? Alternatively he might be a man who used to be honest in the past, but has decided to abandon this virtue. Iago says (I.1, 65) "I am not what I am," which can be interpreted as "I am not what I …show more content…
Leavis feels that Iago displays ‘a not uncommon kind of grudging malice’ and has enough of a grievance to explain his motivation. Iago is motiveless evil personified or simply a sour subordinate with petty but adequate motives for revenge. Some critics question whether Iago understands his own motivations. Hazlitt’s view of the villain has been extended so that Iago is now considered an example of the typical stage Machiavel who ‘personifies rationality, self-interest, hypocrisy, cunning, expediency and efficient “policie”’, he is an ‘amoral artist’ who seeks to fashion a world in his own image (Leah Scragg, ‘Iago – vice or devil?"
After reading and gathering information on William Shakespeare’s play Othello, I have come to the conclusion that Iago is a character with no moral compass: he is without compelling and understandable human motivations. Modern psychiatrists might say that he is a psychopath. When analysing all the different critics and other people and their critical views on the character Iago, I have come to find that many of the critical views are quite different when it comes to Iago’s personality. The three main critics I have studied were A.C Bradley (1904), Lauren Remington (2013) and Jessica
He openly seems to admit to his duplicity further in this dialogue saying, "I am not what I am" and by being open about this, is purposefully more cryptic in the way he communicates it. Iago openly declares that his persona is not true to the definition that Jung describes." "He claims a reputation for honesty and plain speaking, yet he invents elaborate lies in order to exploit and manipulate other people. He treats others as fools and has no time for tender emotion, yet he is a married man and presumably once loved his wife. He cares for no one, yet he devotes his whole life to revenge rather than walk away in disdain. He believes in cheating and lying for gain. Shakespeare shows us a character who acts against his reputation. Possibly Iago was always a villain and confidence trickster who set up a false reputation for honesty, but how can one set up a reputation for honesty except by being consistently honest over a long period of time? Alternatively he might be a man who used to be honest in the past, but has decided to abandon this virtue. Iago says (I.1, 65) "I am not what I am," which can be interpreted as "I am not what I …show more content…
Leavis feels that Iago displays ‘a not uncommon kind of grudging malice’ and has enough of a grievance to explain his motivation. Iago is motiveless evil personified or simply a sour subordinate with petty but adequate motives for revenge. Some critics question whether Iago understands his own motivations. Hazlitt’s view of the villain has been extended so that Iago is now considered an example of the typical stage Machiavel who ‘personifies rationality, self-interest, hypocrisy, cunning, expediency and efficient “policie”’, he is an ‘amoral artist’ who seeks to fashion a world in his own image (Leah Scragg, ‘Iago – vice or devil?"
After reading and gathering information on William Shakespeare’s play Othello, I have come to the conclusion that Iago is a character with no moral compass: he is without compelling and understandable human motivations. Modern psychiatrists might say that he is a psychopath. When analysing all the different critics and other people and their critical views on the character Iago, I have come to find that many of the critical views are quite different when it comes to Iago’s personality. The three main critics I have studied were A.C Bradley (1904), Lauren Remington (2013) and Jessica