The Motivation Of Iago's Hatred In Othello By William Shakespeare

From the first scene of Othello it is seen that Iago completely despises Othello’s decision to make Cassio his lieutenant. After years of fighting side by side Iago is blindsided by Othello and he feels the need to avenge against Othello for his decision. One could argue that Iago is motivated by a heightened sense of justice; however he is actually motivated by his hatred for Othello and his desire to ruin Othello’s life. The idea of Iago being motivated by justice is nothing in compared to the concept of his motivation being hatred. First Iago takes out his hatred for Othello to manipulate others to take and secure the position as lieutenant. The thing is Iago does not stop there, he takes out all his hatred for Othello to completely ruin …show more content…
Iago truly hates Othello for not giving him the job as his lieutenant. Iago takes out all his hatred to manipulate people and get the job as lieutenant. All the feelings inside Iago build up, due to him not becoming lieutenant and they lead to one simple answer; Iago’s motive is pure hatred towards Othello: “The basic motivation of of Iago is hate. Wounded pride, a feeling of personal injustice, and jealous suspicion coalesce into his master-passion of hate for Othello the Moor” (McCloskey, 25). From this quote it is proven that all of Iago’s emotions build up to create the pure hatred for Othello. At the beginning of the play Iago makes it his goal to take out Cassio and become lieutenant. Iago’s way of taking out this anger to reach his goal is by manipulating others. Iago abuses his title “honest Iago” and uses it to his advantage to get everyone to believe what he says. When Shakespeare writes, “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock / The meat it feeds on” (3.3.165-167), it shows how Iago places the thought of jealousy into Othello’s head so it will continue to haunt him. Iago is seen as the master of manipulation, he can make anyone think or do anything he wants. The true peak of Iago’s manipulation scheme is when he somehow got Cassio drunk enough to make a fool out of himself …show more content…
As the play progresses, and Iago has already taken over the job of lieutenant, he continues to take out his hatred for Othello. Even after Iago has completed his goal of becoming lieutenant he still takes out all the hatred he has on Othello, and he makes it his goal to completely ruin his life. This is the defining moment that displays how much Iago actually despises of Othello. When Shakespeare writes, “Though I do hate him as I do hell pains, / Yet, for necessity of present life, / I must show out a flat and sign of love” (1.1.153-154), it shows Iago already planning to use his loyalty to get even closer to Othello. Eventually Iago becomes Othello’s so called, right hand man, when this occurs Iago has Othello in checkmate to completely ruin him. Othello is already in an extremely vulnerable state and Iago uses his manipulatory skills to place thoughts of Desdemona cheating into Othello’s head. Iago constantly displays signs of hatred for Othello, but by Iago attempting, and succeeding, to destroy Othello’s personal life shows the pure hatred towards Othello. This is proven when Iago says, “I hate the Moor. My cause / is hearted; thine hath no less reason. Let us be conjunctive / in our revenge against him” (1.3.358-360). All Iago wants is to completely ruin Othello, he will stop at nothing to destroy Othello. An example of this is when Emilia tries