The Manipulation Of Roderigo In Shakespeare's Othello

Roderigo plays an important role in Othello as he fits both roles of Iago’s right-hand man and Desdemona’s suitor. Because of his lust for Desdemona, he mistakenly trusts that Iago will help Roderigo to gain her favor and decides to work with Iago as his partner. However, Roderigo is unaware of the fact that Iago solely keeps Roderigo by his side for his own benefit and does not wish to provide Roderigo with his deepest desires. Due to his lack of an authoritative position and his knowledge of the overwhelming presence of emotions in Roderigo’s decision making process, Iago acts as a ruler over Roderigo and fuels his hatred towards Othello as he reveals the details of Othello and Desdemona’s new marriage. Iago knows that this newfound information will greatly affect Roderigo and Iago uses this in order to manipulate him into following his every command. Just as early as Act I can Iago’s influences over Roderigo be observed by readers. As he reveals the marriage of Othello and Desdemona to Roderigo, Iago unveils Roderigo’s anger towards …show more content…
In Act II, Iago turns Roderigo’s attention away from Othello and onto Cassio by convincing Roderigo that Desdemona is romantically involved with Cassio. He knows that this will deeply anger Roderigo, so he goes on to command Roderigo to fight Cassio; after fighting, Cassio will lose his rank and Roderigo will have taken Cassio’s place as Desdemona’s interest. However, Iago does not care about the outcome for Roderigo but rather only cares about the outcome for himself. Iago’s manipulation of and power over Roderigo eventually leads to Roderigo’s death. The situation does not deeply bother Iago, though, as he was only using Roderigo as a puppet to carry out his devious plan. His death also exposes a hidden feat about Roderigo: his tendency to make decisions based on his emotions and his