During the initial class reading and study of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Othello” I thought that the clear motive for Iago stemmed from his jealousy that he felt towards Michael Cassio and that he resented the general Othello for appointing Cassio over him. However, after studying and analysing several different critical analysis’ of “Othello” I came to the conclusion that the real motive for Iago is actually one of the more debated topics in all of literature. And as such have chosen the hypothesis that Iago’s true motive is a ruthlessly debated topic, with the consensus opinion of his motive often changing with the time period. I studied 4 main critics, these being Leslie Y. Rabkin & Jeffrey Brown (1973), William Maginn (1839),
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Wilkes goes over the piece of dialogue between Roderigo and Iago at the start of the play, `He has, between my sheets, done me the unlawful office' [I. iii. 387-88]; and again he declares he will not be easy `till he is even with him wife for wife. Wilkes however goes on to explain how he doesn’t believe this idea to be true and claims that Iago had simply made this up in order for Roderigo to feel more compelled to provide him the necessary funds required in for his plot. Wilkes also makes the comparison between the “malice of a slave, and the vengeance of a prince justly provoked”, implying that he believes Iago to tbe the slave, just acting out because he was sick of being ignored and pushed around as anyone would. Iago himself is a very complex and interesting character during the revelation that Iago’s plans had come to fruition and Othello and desdemona lay dead, we see just how different Iago is from the usual villains we see in literature. Wilkes describes it as “the gloomy malice of a slave.” “What ye know, says he, ye know; seek no more of me, for from this hour I never will speak more”. With this simple line, Iago has failed to show any remorse for the lives he has ruined, but due to being caught realizing that he is about to be punished for the rest of his life he also fails to show any feelings of triumph or vigour, an interesting reaction for an interesting
Wilkes goes over the piece of dialogue between Roderigo and Iago at the start of the play, `He has, between my sheets, done me the unlawful office' [I. iii. 387-88]; and again he declares he will not be easy `till he is even with him wife for wife. Wilkes however goes on to explain how he doesn’t believe this idea to be true and claims that Iago had simply made this up in order for Roderigo to feel more compelled to provide him the necessary funds required in for his plot. Wilkes also makes the comparison between the “malice of a slave, and the vengeance of a prince justly provoked”, implying that he believes Iago to tbe the slave, just acting out because he was sick of being ignored and pushed around as anyone would. Iago himself is a very complex and interesting character during the revelation that Iago’s plans had come to fruition and Othello and desdemona lay dead, we see just how different Iago is from the usual villains we see in literature. Wilkes describes it as “the gloomy malice of a slave.” “What ye know, says he, ye know; seek no more of me, for from this hour I never will speak more”. With this simple line, Iago has failed to show any remorse for the lives he has ruined, but due to being caught realizing that he is about to be punished for the rest of his life he also fails to show any feelings of triumph or vigour, an interesting reaction for an interesting