Othello vs. Iago

As the villain in Shakespeare's play Othello, Iago has two main actions. They are to plot and to deceive. Iago wishes to plot and to deceive because he is jealous of Othello and hates him. Iago's reasons for why he hates Othello is because he believes that Othello made love to his wife, and Iago is mad that Cassio was chosen to be Lieutenant instead of himself. From this hate comes the main conflict of the play. Iago plans to ruin Othello because of Iago's jealousy towards him is by carrying out a plan to get back at Othello based on lies and deceit. This plan will make Iago the only person that Othello believes he can trust, and Iago will use this trust to manipulate Othello. Iago plans to remove Cassio from …show more content…

If Iago fails to woo Desdemona, he plans to prove to Othello that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. Iago does fail to become an interest to Desdemona and goes to the second half of his plan – he makes Othello believe that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. He does this by bringing Desdemona and Cassio's close friendship to Othello's attention by stating that they seem to be too close. Othello thinks harder about what Iago is pointing out to him and is convinced that Desdemonda is unfaithful. But, he wants proof of the matter. Othello leaves Iago after he is informed of his wife's behavior and Iago then goes on with a soliloquy discussing Othello. "For that I do suspect the lusty Moor/ Hath leapt into my seat, the thought whereof/ Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards/ And nothing can or shall content my soul/ Till I am evened with his, wife for wife/ Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor/ At least into a jealousy so strong/ That judgement cannot cure" (Shakespeare 282-288). The soliloquy shows that Iago has no real motives for his actions. To substitute for real motives, Iago treats rumors like they were facts and invents situations that never happened in order to suit the ends he wishes to achieve. Kenneth McLeish points out that Iago admits in his first soliloquy that the affair between Othello and Emilia is only a rumor (120-121). Iago has no reason to hate Othello, but because he is an evil person. "And