Iagos Manipulation Of Characters In William Shakespeare's Othello Analysis

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Iago's Manipulation of Characters in William Shakespeare's Othello

Introduction

The play 'Othello' was created by William Shakespeare. Othello is a tale set in Venice at the time when adultery was a hanging offence. It
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This is dramatic irony, as Iago caused the fight and is giving Othello a false image of friendship.

Cassio loses his job, and he asks Desdemona to convince Othello to give him his job back. This makes Othello suspicious of their relationship, as Desdemona is constantly telling Othello to give Cassio his job back.

Othello goes to talk to Iago, and asks him what he knows about Cassio and Desdemona's relationship. Iago tells very little, often repeating himself to try and make Othello want to know more. Iago acts concerned for Othello and tells him that there is a seed of doubt in Othello's mind, "O beware of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster which doth mark the meat it feeds on." Iago says this tin order to make Othello think that he is a friend and is trustworthy. This is dramatic irony as Iago was the person who planted the doubt in Othello's mind to begin with.

Iago continues to play mind game with Othello by making him doubt Desdemona's innocence, "Look at your wife; observe her well
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Emilia continues, and gets Iago so wound up that Iago kills his wife. Othello gets so heartbroken by finding out that Desdemona was innocent, and it was all Iago's manipulation that convinced him otherwise, that he kills himself out of grief. In the final speech, Iago is being sentenced to torture for all his crimes, "The time, the place, the torture, O' I enforce it."

Iago manipulates all the characters, in different ways. Othello was the main focus of Iago's manipulation. Iago manages to make Othello feel that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He manipulates Bianca by making her find the handkerchief, a wedding present from Othello to Desdemona. Iago very cleverly manipulated every character subtly without them realising until the damage had been done.

Iago managed this by using rhetoric in his manipulation. He uses Ethos - the use of an authority or educator to break up arguments - and he uses Pathos - the use of emotive language and imagery to add dramatic effect - and finally Logos - the use of logic, data and statistics.

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