I consider Iago to be the most villainous character in
literature, and critics certainly assert that he is the most vile of all of
Shakespeare's creations.
Iago is a misanthropist - he hates
all humanity: probably including himself. He uses everyone around him as puppets in his
cruel game of destruction - a game which seems to be merely for sport, without real
purpose.
Iago tells the audience that his destruction of
Othello is a revenge for Othello
having-
done my
office.
That is, slept with
Emilia, Iago's wife. There is little foundation for this. If Iago truly loved his wife
aand was greatly offended by his master's actions towards his beloved, he surely would
not have stabbed her so cruelly, or used her to procure Desdemona's
handkerchief.
Iago wishes to destroy Desdemona too,
and-
turn her
virtue into pitch.
Again,
this may be revenge for being cuckolded, but his engineering that Desdemona is strangled
in the marriage-bed she was true to is a viciously ironic
gesture.
Iago torments and destroys his 'friend' Roderigo -
taking his money, his dignity, and his life. He kills Roderigo without remorse when he
has served his purpose and poses a threat.
His torture of
Othello is most compelling in its cruelty. Iago clearly enjoys his games with Othello,
and revels in the torment of the man who deems him 'honest'. He even watches his master
suffer the indignity of an epileptic fit, brought on by Iago's insinuations and
poisonous
words-
IAGO: Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught:
And many
worthy and chaste dames even thus,
All guiltless, meet
reproach.
Critics have long deliberated Iago's
motives for his dark actions, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge categorising iago's actions
as 'motiveless malignity'. Part of the fascination with Iago is that we cannot
understand him, as his actions are neither explained nor
reasoned.
No comments:
Post a Comment