Iago essay question plan PDF

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Iago essay question

6. Deep down, we are more excited by the attributes of the villain than those of the hero.

Shakespeare manipulates the feelings of the audience in the way so that they appear to like Iago. This is because Iago voices some of Shakespeares opinions in an extreme way such as how he is the cataylst which reveals the fralities in human nature

Iago is a multi-facieted villain, he is not just a pure villain. Whereas, Othello’s motives are clear, Iago’s are not.

Write Intro.

Deep down - at first sympathetic to Othello

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-snodin/iago-best-villain-ever_b_1184156.html - Enduring- talks to the audience, secretly, so the audience is aware of what is happening on stage - He is saying that the audience is clever like him - Makes a mockery of life - Audience is complicit, feels guilty, this stage aura about him which draws attention to him - Feels more connected to Iago who talks to the audience rather than Othello

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Likeable- witty, gracious at times, clever, he is honest to the audience Machiavel figure- he would have been more intriguing. Enigma- what is his motive Iago represents the moral sin that everyone can relate to, jealousy. He is truly the e; ‘the green-eyed monster’ He has a desire to be Othello. Middle class servant, would have appealed to lower classes. The best villain - can’t trust a word he says. At the end, Othello explains his actions and how he was driven by jealousy and he admitted he had committed wrongful murder against Desdemona. But Iago leaves the end unfinished, he does not say farewell to the ‘audience’, his fate is left unfinished. Possibly Iago may be tortured, or he may talk his way out of it Iago’s self radiance

Honest . Iago connects with the audience as well as he speaks frankly about life, reveals the frailties in life Is motiveless? An enigma? Driven by jealousy Causes all the action. Clever https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/why-audience-drawn-othellos-iago-387519 Some may love Iago or love to despise him, however he is still exciting For instance, Iago pretends to hesitant when he is lying to Othello about Desdemona’s affair with Cassio be by how he said, “Nothing my lord” to make Othello become curious and to doubt Desdemona.Iago knows Othello’s weaknesses and how to manipulate Othello by how he told him that Desdemona, “deceived her father by marrying you.” -

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Othello represents nobleness and integrity whereas Iago represents sinisterness, deception and plotting. A sense of familiarity to Iago. In a way the characters deserve it, and they partly cause their downfall. Othello chooses Cassio over Iago. It comes down to the fact that without Iago, the play would not be as exciting and alluring. It is Iago who keeps the tension high throughout the play except one of the scenes he is not in, the clown scene. Iago is exciting because there does not seem to be any plans for ambition, like Shakespeare's other villains, he is doing it out of a villainous pleasure but also Shakespeare uses Iago as a catalyst to reveal the frailties of honesty and order in society through the demise of Othello.

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Drawn to Iago because of his extreme power. Shakespeare skillfully uses Iago’s soliloquies to make the audience feel complicit. Audience is still sympathetic towards Othello in this good vs evil, Iago is charismatic. Shakespeare purposefully wanted the audience to be drawn to Iago. Iago shows an understanding into human nature, showing that Othello gave into his inner savage as a black man and how women were weaker than men, beliefs of Shakespeare and Elizabethan society at the time

● In Act 1 from the start Iago lets the audience know his plan against Othello, saying that he would, “abuse Othello’s ear/ that he [Cassio] is too familiar with his wife.”. - Devious ● Iago is duplicitous-he deceives the characters on stage but not the audience, “But I will wear my heart on my sleeve/For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.” He even manipulates Othello, as he says, “Though I do hate him [Othello] … I must show out a flag and a sign of love.” ● Enigma. Coleridge says that Othello operated and was motivated by a “motiveless Malignity” ● Iago is envious and jealous, he feels he is not in the position in society that he deserves. Perhaps at the same time this is honest by how at the time there was a unfair society ranking system based on class and nobility over skill, since according to Iago Cassio does not deserve the lieutenant position. As Iago says, “We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly follow’d.” The characterisation of Iago has been purposefully constructed so that he is both evil and likeable, deep down the audience feels a connection to Iago. As Coleridge says Iago is a, “being next to Devil… only not quite Devil… and this Shakespeare has attempted… executed… without disgust, scandal… ” He marvels at ho Shakespeare was able to construct Iago to be as evil as a devil but still human, and relatable and likeable. Coleridge describes the attributes of Iago as how he has a “restless nature, distempered by a keen sense of intellectual superiority, and haunted by the love of exerting power, on those especially who are his superiors in practical and moral excellence.” Iago is a narcissist who feels that he is better than them. Iago is bitter than he is not happy like how the other characters were and how Cassio was promoted by Othello over him. It is this anger and bitterness that motivates him, so as Coleridge said Iago was motivated by evilness, but there are actually human sins and feelings that also motivate Iago which makes him ‘real’ and relatable to the audiences,- mirroring a morality play that was common in the Elizabethan society.

Iago is pure evil and this is the key to understanding how the audience is still deep down drawn to Iago. As the literary critic, Fred West believes, “It is not sufficient to simply drape Iago in allegorical trappings and proclaim him Mister Evil or a Machiavel or a Vice. Such a limited view of Iago is an injustice to the complexity of his character...” Iago as a soldier views the importance of power, which he gains by his power over the other characters. Iago’s last word is ‘word’ - ironic Iago’s motive malignity is central to his characterisation Shakespeare reveals the inner evil in everyone through Iago Shakespeare does not simply give Iago clear motives because he wants to highlight the psychology in human desires and jealousy through Iago which is what draws the audience to Iago. Iago is also partly a racist since he is a white man and Othello, the black man - the Moor, has a higher position. Iago is clever and the audience admires him for this. He is a master of manipulation and Othello is weak by falling for Iago’s seeds of lie and doubt that he plants in Othello’s mind. For instance, Iago pretends to be hesitant, “Nothing my lord” He knows Othello’s weaknesses and how to manipulate Othello, “she deceived her father by marrying you.” He knows of the human natures weakness, the sins of the past remain today, which makes Shakespeare’s Iago and his messages just as relatable and relevant to modern audiences today. Iago is the most evil of Shakespeare's Villains Iago ends up making the audience wanting Iago to succeed Uses resources well, the handkerchief, a symbol of Othello’s manhood to agitate and gives Othello ‘ocular proof’ that Cassio had slept with wife, Desdemona. Iago does not ‘hide’ his true nature from the audience, he is in a way honest with the audience, “I am not what I am” Act 1 Scene 1 Othello - love (love for Desdemona), noble (his metaphorical language), his honesty, - Distrust for a black man - O is protagonist. Iago is the antagonist

They share similarities both are military men, intelligent, similar cultural beliefs such as sexist views about women. What draws them apart and makes Iago more exciting is his deceptive attributes of cleverness and his enigma quality Machiavellian Iago Essence of evil- audience quite likes this, as Iago claims, “Divinity of Hell!” there is an alluring quality to evilness. Shows the theme, “appearance vs reality”by how Iago is duplicitous Establishes Iago as the devil Observant and witty- audience likes him Othello appears weak, fatal flaw of male pride and jealousy. Iago does not appear to be defeated, the only character in the web of lies that lives… https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/othello/character-analysis/iago Iago is the Devil from the religious morality plays in how he is deceptive Bitter irony William Hazlitt believes that Iago is “an extreme instance… of diseased intellectual activity, with the most perfect indifference to moral good or evil, or rather with a decided preference of the latter because it falls more readily in with his favourite propensity, gives greater zest to his thoughts and scope to his actions. He is quite or nearly indifferent to his own fate as that of others; he runs all risks for a trifling and doubtful advantage, and is himself the dupe and victim of ruling passion — an insatiable craving after action of the most difficult and dangerous kind." Booth wrote about playing Iago: "To portray Iago properly you must seem to be what all the characters think, and say, you are, not what the spectators know you to be; try to win even them by your sincerity. Don't act the villain, don't look it, or speak it, (by scowling and growling, I mean), but think it all the time. Be genial, sometimes jovial, always gentlemanly. Quick in motion as in thought; lithe and sinuous as a snake." The literary critic Bradley believes that, Shakespeare has masterfully and purposefully constructed Iago in how, “Evil has nowhere else been portrayed with such mastery as in the character of Iago.” He believes that Iago is not simply driven by evil as a “ordinary villain” Bradley believed that Iago was not violent and that he is more complex, instead Iago is a “thoroughly bad, cold man, who is at last tempted to let loose the forces within him,” linking to the ‘inner evil’ idea https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/assets/qualifications-andstandards/qualifications/ncea/NCEA-subject-resources/English/91479-A/91479-EXPstudent5-001.pdf Iago’s anti heroic language is a change it contrasts with Othello, with the bawdy

language Iago is more relatable than the noble and exotic Othello. https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/roderigo-cassio-othello-all-manipulated-byiago-178947 Iago’s last words, “Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:/ From this time forward I will never speak a word.” Means audience is not given a motive for Iago’s malice. This means that Iago has never been truly honest with the audience, which excites them. Crass sexual and racial imagery Iago sophisticated and compelling Appeals to all Elizabethan classes Gleefully plots Web of deceit and lies to “ensnare” his victims Drawn and repelled at the same time Shows frailties in society and men’s fear of female threat to order, “a fellow almost damned in a fair wife” that would prove false. Iago in a way stage manners the chaos but he makes sure that he does not keep in trouble Iago’s opening and closing lines establish him as the powerful and manipulative figure in Othello, it is really Iago who has the power In a way Iago upstages Othello, in a way the play Othello should really be titled Iago in how all the action is caused by Iago. For instance, Iago has 1,097 lines in the play, he dominates the play, whereas Othello has …. Lines. Iago has more soliloquies so that he connects more with the audience. As well as this, Iago has the advantage of being introduced early before the hero Othello, so the audience gains initial trust with Iago at the start of the play, they form a relationship with Iago and they know of Iago’s plan in Act 1 to bring Othello’s fall so that they feel complicit. It is clearly the antagonist Iago who has control. As Harley Granville Barker says, “We could take it that this opening view of Iago, the first impression he is to make, was meant to be the true one. Shakespeare leaves us in no doubt as to the sort of [evil] man this is. Here, in the first two scenes, in the contrast between the men and the boosted hate and its masking, are the main factors of the play set in motion.” Since Iago, according to the literary critic A.C Bradley is a “Machiavellian Villain” this means that Iago will go to any extreme to have power, because the end justifies the means in his opinion. The critic Coleridge was wrong in believing Iago is driven simply by “motiveless

malignity” for evils sake. Instead, throughout the play Iago starts to provide multiple bitter reasons for his hatred towards Othello such as in terms of his low rank, his unhappiness in marriage, how he thought Othello had slept with Emilia etc. Honesty appears 41 x

Iago’s succeeds in his plan which gains the audience's admiration for his wit. As Iago had planned and confidied in with the audience in a soliloquy, “I’ll put him in a jealous rage that reason cannot cure…” “I’ll pour pestilence in his ear,” In the end Othello starts to mimic Iago which shows the success of Iago’s manipulation. This is shown by Iago’s animal imagery which Othello starts to use, “I had rather be a toad” Even he is, like the audience, overcome by the sheer alluring cleverness of Iago Within 490 lines Iago is able to manipulate Othello, through the use of animalistic and racial imagery http://juliamatchett1516lclit.blogspot.com/2016/09/iago-is-ultimate-stage-villain.html https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-significance-iagos-final-line-demandme-421480 http://juliamatchett1516lclit.blogspot.com/2016/09/iago-is-ultimate-stage-villain.html http://nfs.sparknotes.com/othello/page_304.html...