Original copy Iago character question Deep down, we are more excited by the attributes of the villain than those of the hero PDF

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Olivia Lake

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

Essay Question: Deep down, we are more excited by the attributes of the villain than those of the hero In Shakespeare’s Othello, the audience despite loving to hate the villain Iago, is actually deep down drawn to Iago through a sense of excitement towards his alluring evil attributes. This is because Shakespeare creates an enigmatic quality in Iago so that he appears to be driven by “Motiveless Malignity” whereas he is actually a complex character. The villain Iago’s attributes are far more exciting compared to the noble hero, Othello. Iago’s main attributes are deceptiveness, cleverness, evilness and greed. These attributes both attract and repel the audience to Iago. Iago also has the exciting balance between his devilish nature and his human side which makes him appear relatable to the audience and in a way he voices Shakespeare's own concerns of the threats to Elizabethan society at the time, such as the threat of unfaithful women as represented by Desdemona and of black men as represented by Othello. Iago’s attribute of deception is clearly highlighted in Othello in how he manipulates all the other characters, even the clever hero Othello, due to Iago’s clever understanding of people’s flaws. The audience is drawn to Iago’s deceptive and manipulative nature from the start by how he weaves the web of lies and how he seemingly controls all the action in Othello. The reason for why the audience is not repelled completely by Iago is that they are aware of Iago’s secretive plotting against Othello right from the start and even though Iago may not be honest to the characters on stage, it could be argued that “honest Iago” is honest to the audience by how he does not hide his evil intent. This is because unlike Othello, Iago uses soliloquies addressed to the audience which makes Iago more engaging, lifelike and exciting for the audience as he talks ‘with’ them about his plotting. In Act 1 Scene 3 from the start, Iago clearly lets the audience know his plotting against Othello by how he planned that he would, “abuse Othello’s ear/ that he [Cassio] is too familiar with his wife.” Another reason for why Iago appears exciting to the audience is that he has a multifaceted personality which creates an intriguing enigmatic quality to him. This also gives Iago a compelling charismatic attribute because the audience feels complicit in Iago’s plotting against Othello because unlike the characters on stage the audience knows Iago’s true evil nature. This also makes the audience feel guilty as Iago plots, however, another element to this guilt is that this is a secret exciting guilt for the audience as they wait in anticipation to see how Iago’s plot will unfold. At the same time, by how Iago believes he is clever in his plotting and by telling the audience of his plotting this in a way reveals that he believes that the audience is clever like him, which makes the audience feel more connected to Iago than Othello by this purposeful interaction created by Shakespeare. Iago’s deceptive nature is highlighted early on in Act 1 Scene 3 by the use of both prose and soliloquies showing that Iago puts on a deceptive honest facade by how he appears both bawdy and sophisticated, thus, appealing to the whole audience of all social classes. Iago uses the dramatic irony of, “I am not what I am,” which relates to the idea of ‘appearance vs reality’ to show the audience his true evil nature and to form himself into an enigma. This also means that the audience does not feel duped by Iago when he starts to plot and to accuse Desdemona wrongly of having an affair with Cassio because Iago had been malicious from the very beginning of the play by how he manipulated Roderigo in Act 1 and how he incited Desdemona’s father, Brabantio. Furthermore, Iago appears more exciting than Othello by how he is deceptive in nature and his plotting adds an exciting element of unpredictability in the play. As well as this, Iago has the advantage of being introduced early before the hero Othello, so that the audience gains the initial connection with Iago at the start of the play so that they form a relationship with

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Olivia Lake

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

Iago, which is very exciting for the audience to feel close to the villain. As the English director Harley Granville Barker believed, “We could take it that this opening view of Iago, the first impression he is to make, was meant to be the true one. 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.” This shows that Shakespeare establishes from the start that it is Iago who has the power in the web of lies and that he is the exciting catalyst for Othello's fall. It is this power of Iago’s and his clever deceptive nature which draws the audience to Iago. Iago’s power lies in how the characters believe that he is honest, which is ironic and exciting for the audience who know that he is dishonest. Iago weaves a web of deceit and lies to “ensnare” his victims. For example, Cassio trusted Iago because he “never knew a Florentine more kind and honest” and Iago uses this trust to exploit Cassio’s weakness for drinking so that he would lose favour with Othello. This would have been exciting for the audience as they viewed Iago’s plotting due to their knowledge of Iago’s plot. As a result, this created an exciting element to the play for the audience whereby during the final scene the audience is actually deep down guiltily wanting Iago to succeed in his plot and to see the fallout because through Iago they are made to feel like they were involved in the plotting. Ultimately, Iago’s succeeds in his plan which gains the audience's admiration for his wit. As Iago had planned and confided in with the audience in a soliloquy, “I’ll put him in a jealous rage that reason cannot cure…” and how he would “pour pestilence in his [Othello’s] ear.” Thus, even though the audience feels sympathy for Othello’s downfall they are actually in fact excited by Iago’s deceptiveness by how evilness has an alluring quality to it and how they are in admiration that one man, Iago, managed to create the fall of four characters. As the literary critic Sean McEvoy says, “The audience becomes complicit in Iago’s intentions… He actually asks them what he should do… many actors who have played the part have been capable of getting members of the audience to share Iago’s delight in his own powers of evil invention.” As a result, this excitement that is created through Iago’s sinister plotting makes the audience in a way feel more connected to the villain Iago than the hero Othello. Shakespeare's purpose in this could be that he is trying to also persuade the audience that Iago is right in some points by how he exposes the frailties of trust in society and to show the evilness in humanity, by how in a way the audience experiences the moment of evil yearning themselves towards Othello’s downfall. Iago’s cleverness is an important attribute which is emphasised in Othello by how it means that he is able to manipulate all the characters in Othello through his knowledge of their flaws. Because of this, Iago brings down the other characters, like the hero Othello, which adds the exciting action for the audience since four characters end up dying as a result. For example, through the use of animalistic and racial imagery, Iago uses solely his words to manipulate Othello into believing that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. Iago does this by cleverly using Othello’s fatal flaw of his passionate love for Desdemona to weaken Othello and to cause his downfall, as Iago says, “his soul is so enfettered to her love.” Thus, it is not Othello who is exciting by becoming a fallen hero but instead, it is for confident and clever Iago who gains the audience's unadmitted admiration for his ability to manipulate those around him through his knowledge of human nature and how it was not Othello’s actions that caused his fall but instead Iago’s who manipulated Othello into punishing Desdemona by killing her. For instance, in only 490 words Iago turns Othello's trust and companionship in Desdemona to himself so that Othello is fully under Iago’s control. In addition, by using Othello’s flaw of being an outsider as a black man Iago successfully convinces Iago that Desdemona would want to cheat on Othello. Such as, Iago

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Olivia Lake

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

uses Othello’s insecurity of being an outsider against him by how he convinces Othello that Desdemona would tire of him and, “Her will… May fall to match you with her country forms, and happily repent.” Thence, the powerful Iago appears more exciting than the weak and vulnerable hero Othello. Iago is also exciting for the audience by how he uses sexual and animalistic imagery to manipulate Othello such as how he exclaims that Cassio and Desdemona are, “as prime as goats and hot as monkeys,” to increase the passionate hate in Othello. Iago’s bawdy language would have also excited the audience’s own passions against Iago for his lies. This animalistic imagery portrays Iago as the hunter and the other characters as the prey which builds an underlying tension. As a result, tension builds as Iago slowly manipulates the characters with words. Iago’s manipulation and power over the other characters are shown when his victims, like Othello, start to use Iago’s animalistic imagery in mimicry as Othello gives into his inner evil. For instance, Othello says in Act 3 Scene 3 that he “had rather be a toad” due to his utter misery in believing that Desdemona was having an affair with Cassio. Even he is, like the audience, overcome by the sheer alluring cleverness of Iago. As a result, the audience admires Iago for his cleverness by how is the master of manipulation. On the other hand, Othello appears weak to the audience by how he falls for Iago’s seeds of doubts that he plants in Othello’s mind in how Othello was turned against his own wife Desdemona to the point of murdering her. In a way, Iago was right in how he proved the frailties of love and trust in society so that in a way he echoes Shakespeare's thoughts in an extreme way. This is exciting for the audience by how Iago proved his cynical theories of life right by how Othello forsook his love for Desdemona and how love is “merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will.” He also proves the inner savagery in men by how he drives Othello into giving into his inner evil as a black man by how he eventually kills his wife. Thus, Iago appears more real to the audience by how he exposes the truth about life which is exciting to the Elizabethan audience since Othello is a tragedy and it is meant to confront the audience with the harsh realities of life. As Iago asks rhetorically to the audience, “How am I then a villain.” Iago is a Stage Machiavellian villain in Othello by how he reveals the idea of ‘good vs evil’ and by how ruthless scheming and deceit is shown to win when Iago is successful in bringing Othello’s fall which would have been seen as a threat to the Elizabethan social order at the time. The hero Othello reveals the ‘good’ side of humanity by he is noble as shown by his metaphorical language and in contrast, Iago represents ‘evilness’ in society. The Stage Machiavellian Iago would have been exciting and frightening to the Elizabethan societies by how it challenged the Christian idea of collective cooperation and it threatened the Elizabethan order by how Iago only looks out for his own interests which was an arising political idea during the Elizabethan times. This is revealed by Iago’s garden imagery which adds a sinister plotting element to the play which maintains the excitement throughout the play. Iago’s name itself means the “he who supplants” which symbolizes how he wants to overtake and have the ultimate power. The garden imagery symbolizes that Iago craves power, which is a Machiavellian concept. This relates to how Iago “plants” ideas into other minds and this power stems from Iago’s manipulative words. It is clear that Iago dominates the play by how he upstages Othello, in a way, the play Othello should really be titled ‘Iago’ because of how all the action is caused by Iago. For instance, Iago has 1,097 lines in the play, showing that he dominates the play. Clearly, Iago has more soliloquies than the hero Othello so that he connects more with the audience by how he shares his true emotions which thrills the audience. Significantly, Iago maintains the sense of excitement in Othello by how he is almost always on stage lurking and plotting as the ruthless and calculated Stage Machiavellian villain till the end of the play. His garden metaphor, “Our bodies are our garden, to the which our wills are gardeners” relates to the

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Olivia Lake

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

idea of growth through personal advancement. He shows disdain against the ‘good’ hero Othello who is so trusting that “thinks men honest that but seem to be so.” This makes Iago more exciting because he reaches for his own power which was a revolutionary idea at the time in Elizabethan England. Iago’s garden imagery metaphorically highlights the exciting quality of Iago himself by how he slowly plotted and he built up the exciting tension. This evilness has an exciting quality to it as shown by Iago who exclaims, “Divinity of Hell!” This reveals that evilness and self-interest can be powerful. This also reveals how Iago’s evil manipulation of others can be both repelling but also exciting for the audience in how evilness is unpredictable. For example, Othello ends up following the predictable ‘stereotypical savage’ black character of the Elizabethan Age by how he kills his wife Desdemona at the end of the play. But it is Iago who is the complex character who is unpredictable in both his actions and his motives. In terms of staging, it is Iago who adds the tension to Othello’s fall which makes him more exciting for the audience as they try to anticipate his next move. Since Iago is without a conscious due to how he is a Stage Machiavellian villain he is more exciting than the noble hero Othello who was always trying to justify his actions. Significantly, Iago appears more ‘real’ relatable than Othello through his use of prose rather than Othello’s metaphorical language, which is revolutionary and exciting by how usually the audience connected more with the hero. In a way, some of the audience would feel admiration for Iago and they wished they were as daring to carry out this ‘revenge.’ Shakespeare’s play went against the classic morality play at the time when the ‘Stage Machiavel’ was overcome at the end of the play, instead, Iago lives which shows the idea that evil wins over goodness. Furthermore, Iago represents the dangerous evil side of society and in humanity. Iago is the‘ id’ from a Freudian psychological sense by how he gives into his desires compared to Othello who is more the ‘ego’ because he struggles with his conscious as an outsider and because he tried to reason with his inner evil by how he kept trying to justify his action for killing ‘sweet’ Desdemona. Shakespeare explores this inner evil in Iago, however, this was not to encourage the audience to be like Iago instead it was to excite the audience and instil fear towards the ‘inner evil’ in mankind, Shakespeare wanted the audience to fight their inner evil. This is still relevant and exciting to modern day audiences by how Iago represents the inner evil in humanity and he uncovers it in Othello to show that there is an inner evil lurking in everyone. Also, Iago shows the fragileness of trust in society, thus, he makes a mockery of life like an exciting and deceptive traditional Italian Zanni comedic figure. This inner evil adds the exciting element in Iago by giving him a vibrant energy and a powerfully exciting and imposing stage presence. The most significant and exciting attribute of the villain Iago is his enigmatic quality in his “motiveless” evil reasons for causing chaos and the downfall of the hero Othello. The literary critic Coleridge believes that Iago is motivated by “Motiveless Malignity” of pure evilness. Although, this is a misconception that does not capture the complexity of Iago as an enigma. For instance, Iago contradicts himself throughout the entire play in his motives which is purposefully done by Shakespeare to create a lifelike three-dimensional character. Many hail Iago as Shakespeare's most villainous villain. This is because of Iago’s attribute of deception and how he feeds the audience many reasons for his evilness in order to capture the attention of the audience so that they cannot truly understand him. 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 his marriage, an insecurity in his masculinity and with even some critics claiming that he is homosexually trying to destroy Othello due to his love for Othello in order to regain control. All the reasons that Iago evokes are based around Iago’s

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Olivia Lake

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

main motive which is that he is driven by a power-surge as a Vice figure which gives him this exciting quality. In contrast to the classic villain of the classic morality plays of the Elizabethan time what gives Iago this enigmatic exciting quality is that he also appears human, just like any other man. 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.” The literary critic A.C Bradley believes that this is because Iago is not simply driven by evil as an “ordinary [Vice] villain” instead Bradley believed that 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 in humanity. So Shakespeare revolutionised the morality play by how Iago does not just represent the devilish Satan. Shakespeare has purposefully constructed Iago so that he appears lifelike and from a tragedy sense Iago confronts the audience with the harsh reality of life in proving how trust is fragile and how there is an inner evil in everyone. Iago represents the Vice of greed and jealousy. It is Iago who is more exciting than Othello in how he revels in his sin with a sense of gleeful evilness. Furthermore, Iago is a narcissist, since he is the Vice for jealousy, who is bitter about life in how he believes he should be happier and that he should have a higher position in society due to how he is more clever than the other characters. Iago is especially bitter about the “bookish theoric” Cassio who was promoted over him as Othello’s lieutenant. 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’ to the audience which mirrors the morality play that was common in the Elizabethan society by how characters represented sins. In a lot of ways the audience can justify Iago’s actions, for instance, how Iago says that “We cannot all be masters, nor all masters cannot be truly follow’d.” He was highlighting how some people should not be ‘masters’, have high positions of authority, due to how people like noble Cassio were promoted by class rather than skill since Iago believed he was the more experienced soldier, thus, Iago exposes how there was an unfair social class system during the Elizabethan Age. The characterisation of Iago has been purposefully constructed by Shakespeare so that he is both evil and likeable so that deep down the audience feels a close connection to Iago, closer than their relationsh...