Examine how Iago turns Othello against Desdemona
Shakespeare presents Iago as being the tragic villain in the play Othello. Iago uses a number of tricks to manipulate Othello (the protagonist of the play) into believing Desdemona (his wife) is unfaithful, all the while keeping his image as ‘Honest Iago’. He does this in a very skilful way by merely suggesting and implying to Othello that his wife may not be as pure as he was lead to believe. The audience of course knows that this is not true but unfortunately Othello does not see past Iago’s lies. This is as a result of Othello’s hamartia – jealousy, which Iago is well aware of and uses to manipulate him. This all takes place in act 3 scene 3 and is very important to the development of Othello’s …show more content…
He does this by saying ‘What say these are vile and false’, meaning that he is most likely going to say something that Othello doesn’t want to hear. He goes on to say ‘I am not bound […] to utter my thoughts’. Despite this seeming as though Iago is merely trying to protect Othello from his thoughts, it is actually a cunning strategy to deceive Othello into believing that what he has to say is worthwhile hearing. Also it acts as a protection for Iago because it means that if, in the future, he is questioned about spreading rumours, he can defend himself and say that he was just speaking his mind and nothing he said had any lucidity. In this scene, Iago goes onto further enforces the fact that Othello, is playing with his own fate by saying ‘as I confess it is my nature’s plague’ and ‘shapes fault that are not’. This is a warning that anything he says may or may not be true but Othello goes against this ominous threat and continues to persist. Othello’s desire to have knowledge of Iago’s thoughts is fuelled by his jealousy, and is exactly what Iago wanted to …show more content…
This again is not a direct accusation towards Desdemona being unfaithful however it does act as a reminder to Othello that she has the capability of being disloyal to her father and therefore, she may do it again. Linking back to Desdemona’s father’s (Brabantio) warning when he said ‘she had deceived her father and may thee’. This is an obvious foreshadow to this event which is now made clear to the audience and Othello. Perhaps leading Othello to regret marrying Desdemona. This ambiguity that Othello has, leads Iago to make a further remark that he is an outsider. He undermines Othello by pointing this out as he says ‘In Venice they do let God see the pranks they dare not show their husbands’, referring to the women of Venice. This comment suggests that women in this area do things that only God can judge, in this case cheating on their husbands. At the time Venetian woman were said to ‘open their quivers to every arrow’. This language symbolises sex in quite a modest way however it was still a major taboo topic for the time. On the other hand Iago contradicts himself later on when he explains to Othello that Desdemona had rejected lots of suitors before him. This suggests that she is the opposite to the Venetian woman stereotype as she does not ‘open her quivers’ to every man who asks. Shakespeare could
Shakespeare presents Iago as being the tragic villain in the play Othello. Iago uses a number of tricks to manipulate Othello (the protagonist of the play) into believing Desdemona (his wife) is unfaithful, all the while keeping his image as ‘Honest Iago’. He does this in a very skilful way by merely suggesting and implying to Othello that his wife may not be as pure as he was lead to believe. The audience of course knows that this is not true but unfortunately Othello does not see past Iago’s lies. This is as a result of Othello’s hamartia – jealousy, which Iago is well aware of and uses to manipulate him. This all takes place in act 3 scene 3 and is very important to the development of Othello’s …show more content…
He does this by saying ‘What say these are vile and false’, meaning that he is most likely going to say something that Othello doesn’t want to hear. He goes on to say ‘I am not bound […] to utter my thoughts’. Despite this seeming as though Iago is merely trying to protect Othello from his thoughts, it is actually a cunning strategy to deceive Othello into believing that what he has to say is worthwhile hearing. Also it acts as a protection for Iago because it means that if, in the future, he is questioned about spreading rumours, he can defend himself and say that he was just speaking his mind and nothing he said had any lucidity. In this scene, Iago goes onto further enforces the fact that Othello, is playing with his own fate by saying ‘as I confess it is my nature’s plague’ and ‘shapes fault that are not’. This is a warning that anything he says may or may not be true but Othello goes against this ominous threat and continues to persist. Othello’s desire to have knowledge of Iago’s thoughts is fuelled by his jealousy, and is exactly what Iago wanted to …show more content…
This again is not a direct accusation towards Desdemona being unfaithful however it does act as a reminder to Othello that she has the capability of being disloyal to her father and therefore, she may do it again. Linking back to Desdemona’s father’s (Brabantio) warning when he said ‘she had deceived her father and may thee’. This is an obvious foreshadow to this event which is now made clear to the audience and Othello. Perhaps leading Othello to regret marrying Desdemona. This ambiguity that Othello has, leads Iago to make a further remark that he is an outsider. He undermines Othello by pointing this out as he says ‘In Venice they do let God see the pranks they dare not show their husbands’, referring to the women of Venice. This comment suggests that women in this area do things that only God can judge, in this case cheating on their husbands. At the time Venetian woman were said to ‘open their quivers to every arrow’. This language symbolises sex in quite a modest way however it was still a major taboo topic for the time. On the other hand Iago contradicts himself later on when he explains to Othello that Desdemona had rejected lots of suitors before him. This suggests that she is the opposite to the Venetian woman stereotype as she does not ‘open her quivers’ to every man who asks. Shakespeare could