Character Analysis of Iago Essay

Imagine that you are an cruel person. Do you have a reason for being evil? Is there always a logical motivation for villainous behavior? Most of us, even if we were to imagine ourselves as evil would probably also imagine a motivation for being so a lust for power, greed for money, for revenge, or just anger about our wrenching or disappointing experiences. How forever, Shakespeares perenni every last(predicate)y favorite love-to-hate bad-guy, Iago, send offms to defy simple interpretation when it comes to striking motive.In some ways, Iagos behavior is so contemptible it seems unlikely that any single motivation could be reasoned out from the plays content that would adequately explain the causes of his villainy. He appears rather as what modern-day psychologists might call a psychopath, which is a person who demonstrates no acknowledgment of moral or ethical responsibility for their actions. Although a motive of sorts is ascribed in the plays dialogue for Iagos plot to undo Ot hello, the basis of revenge is slight.in position, in order to make Iago a completely unsympathizing character, Shakespeare was careful non to ascribe any practicable motive for his desiring revenge against Othello. If the audience perceived that Iago was truly wronged, and has cause for vengeance, then he must surely draw warm sympathy and this would draw a digression from the plays theme of pride as a tragic flaw. (Rosenberg, 1961, p. 168) Also contrasted to the idea that Othello gave Iago genuine provocation for revenge is the fact that Othello is consistently portrayed as virtuous, almost single-mindedly so.This fact is made clear by Iagos own soliloquy when he reasons out that he is superior to the Moor because he is not susceptible to faith in goodness or faithfulness the Moor is of a free and open nature / That thinks men honest that but seem to be so by contrasting himself with Othello, Iago makes it clear that he, himself, is not given to faith in men or their presu med virtues and he views Othellos faith as a shortcoming the remark is not a acclamation but a contemptuous acknowledgment of Othellos naivete and foolishness.(Sadowski, 2003, p. 171) Despite Iagos intentionally devised unsympathetic character, the complexity of Iago is adequate enough to create more than than a simple cardboard villain. Though his motives for revenge against Othello may be slight or even ambiguous, the complete realization of Iago as a believable, multifaceted individual is accomplished by Shakespeare in brilliant fashion.An actor playing Iago would have to be careful not to personify Iago as a goddam or outright malicious person, but as a more cleverly masked and complicated person. Instead of acting like a bully or a typical evil-doer, Iago would be more effectively portrayed as a sociopath who is familiar with social mores and laws and moral codes, and in fact uses them to attain his self-interests, but has absolutely no sense of personal ethics or morality whatsoever.If an actor tried to portray him purely as a symbol of evil he would have had to ignore parts of Shakespeares complex characterization because Iago is more than a cardboard villain, he represents Shakespeares exploration of a criminally insane personality, a person who is all the more sinister for choosing evil rather than simply representing it. Arguably, some of his motives remain unstated, offshoots of a warped and insane nature seething with jealousy and envy. (Hall, 1999, p. 72).Arguing that Iago has chosen to become malicious and evil may sound strange at first, but even the fount of the playsuggests that iago is himself aware of his own dual nature one side which preceives and udnerstands the laws and moral parameters of the world, what is right and wrong, and another side which is wilfully evil and out to serve just self-interest and revenge. Iago says of himself I am not what I am. This points to a psychologically unstable condition, but a self-aware condi tion. In this way it is possible to see Honest Iago and Villainous Iago are obverse and reverse of the same coin.On the one side, the pure gold of human concern Sblood, but youll not hear me. If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me. (1. 1. 4) (Calderwood, 1989, p. 94) Despite Iagos complexities of character and the viability of viewing his character as a manifestation of a sociopath , another, less complimentary interpretation for Shakespeares complex villain is possible that Iago functions as not much more than a necessary piece of dramatic mechanism however, this provocative judgment runs counter to most peoples impressions of Iago as a fascinating, multifaceted choose in evil.(Hall, 1999, p. 71) That said, it is still a viable criticism of the play that Iagos multifaceted evil is so dynamic and so all-ecompassing as to go beyond the purely psychological character study nad into actual plot-resolution technical trickery which Shakespeare found necessary to give his play mo vement and dramatic action. This is a fascinating interpretation, but it seems unlikely in the final analysis because Iago is immediately recognizable to audiences, as though he is somebody we all already know.In fact, he does represent an aspect of ourselves that we all do know and know well, which is the side of us which bases its motives on self-interest and has no feeling for moral obligation or ethical restraint. of course this smuggled side exists in all of us and must be mastered when we fail to master our dark side we are sometimes called villains, sometimes sociopaths. Shakespeares great genius in the creation of Iago was to produce a character whose immersion in the dark side was so deep as to create great tragedy, but so realistically rendered that it was universally recognizable as a constant aspect of and threat to human social order. References Calderwood, J. L. (1989). The Properties of Othello. Amherst, MA University of mamma Press.Hall, J. L. (1999). Othello A Gui de to the Play. Westport, CT Greenwood Press. Rosenberg, M. (1961). The Masks of Othello The Search for the Identity of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona by Three Centuries of Actors and Critics. Berkeley, CA University of California Press. Sadowski, P. (2003). Dynamism of Character in Shakespeares Mature Tragedies. Newark, DE University of Delaware Press.