IAGO

'Iago' is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello''.
Iago is Othello’s trusted ancient. At the beginning of the play, Iago claims to have been unfairly passed over for promotion to the rank of Othello's lieutenant in favour of Michael Cassio. Iago plots to make Othello demote Cassio, and thereafter to bring about the downfall of Othello himself. After Iago engineers a drunken brawl to ensure Cassio’s demotion (in Act 2), he sets to work on his second scheme, ultimately through leading Othello to believe that his wife, Desdemona, is in an extramarital relationship with Cassio. This action occupies the final three acts of the play.
In the final scene, Iago’s plan appears to succeed when Othello kills the apparently innocent Desdemona. Soon afterwards, however, Iago’s treachery is brought to light by his wife, Emilia; Iago is placed under arrest. He remains famously reticent when pressed for an explanation of his malicious conduct:

Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.

From this time forth I never will speak word

These are his final lines before being taken away, probably to be tortured.
Iago is generally regarded as one of Shakepeare’s most malevolent creations. A. C. Bradley, a renowned critic of Shakepeare, claimed that ‘evil has nowhere else been portrayed with such mastery as in the evil character of Iago.’^[1] In particular, the mystery surrounding Iago’s actual motives has continued to intrigue readers and fuel scholarly debate.

Contents

Description of character

Possible motives for Iago

References

Actors who have played Iago

External Links

Description of character

Iago is one of Shakespeare's most sinister villains, often considered such because of the unique trust that Othello places in him, which he betrays while maintaining his reputation of honesty and dedication. Shakespeare contrasts Iago with Othello's nobility and integrity. At 1097 lines, he speaks more lines in the play than Othello, more than any other non-title characters in Shakespeare (with the arguable exception of Falstaff, if his lines from both the first and second halves of Henry IV are combined). Iago is often referred to as "honest Iago," displaying his skill at deceiving other characters so that not only do they not suspect him, but they count on him as the person most likely to be truthful.
Iago fits into the malcontent character type because of his bitter and cynical view of the world around him. While the play suggests motives for Iago's hateful scheming, many readers feel that a deeper root remains hidden. Iago cites suspicion that his wife has been unfaithful to him with Othello or bitterness that Othello passed him over for a big promotion, but many interpretations of the play include the idea that Iago is a representation of the devil.
Iago has been played in theatrical performances by many famous actors, such as Ian McKellen, Christopher Plummer, Frank Finlay, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Bob Hoskins, Andy Serkis, and Kenneth Branagh.
When Iago utters, "I am not what I am,” he foreshadows to the audience his use of deception to create the downfall of Othello. The line also indicates Iago's sinister nature as it is the direct opposite of a biblical statement attributed to God, who said "I am that I am."

Possible motives for Iago

Iago has been described as a "motiveless malignance" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This reading would seem to suggest that Iago, much like Don John in ''Much Ado About Nothing'', or Aaron in ''Titus Andronicus'', wreaks havoc on the other characters' lives for no ulterior purpose.
Possible analyzed motives include:
# Failure to be promoted
# Racism
# Jealousy (of Emilia, of Desdemona or of Othello)
# Sexual infidelity
# Insecurity
# Supreme intellect unregulated by emotion or conscience (sociopathy)
# Sadism
# Homosexuality^[2]
In the exposition scene in Act 1, scene 1, Iago himself states that his prime motivation is bitterness at having been passed for promotion to the top post. His racist disgust at seeing "a black ram tupping a white ewe", and his supreme confidence in his ability to destroy Othello and escape detection all present potential motives. In a later soliloquy, it is revealed that Iago suspects his wife of infidelity with both Othello and Cassio. Ultimately, none of these motives are identified as primary, so it is impossible to determine conclusively which applies, if indeed any of them do in isolation, or which is most important among them.
The greatest problem that Iago presents as a character is reconciling his malignant, manipulative behavior within the play, with the high regard that he has earned from Othello, Cassio, and others, who trust him implicitly (to their undoing). How a man as bitter, cynical and amoral as Iago could ever become so trusted is a mystery that the play never explains.
As stated by Iago performer Andy Serkis in his memoir ''Gollum: How We Made Movie Magic'', "There are a million theories to Iago's motivations, but I believed that Iago was once a good soldier, a great man's man to have around, a bit of a laugh, who feels betrayed, gets jealous of his friend, wants to mess it up for him, enjoys causing him pain, makes a choice to channel all his creative energy into the destruction of this human being, and becomes completely addicted to the power he wields over him. I didn't want to play him as initially malevolent. He's not the devil. He's you or me feeling jealous and not being able to control our feelings."
Iago, indeed, only reveals his spiteful and bitter side in his soliloquies, and in occasional asides. Elsewhere, he is charismatic and friendly, and the advice he offers to both Cassio and Othello is superficially sound; as Iago himself remarks:

'And what's he then that says I play the Villain?' (II.iii.310)

It is the dramatic irony, created by the audience's knowledge of his wicked intentions contrasted with the other characters' trust in him, that drives the play.
Ian McDiarmid, who once played Iago for a stage performance of Othello, compares his character Palpatine from the Star Wars films to Iago, saying that their diabolical intelligence, sadistic and villainous personality, superficial charm, and Machiavellian manipulations of everyone around them make them similar characters. Like Iago, Palpatine has quite frequently been compared to the Devil.

References

1. Bradley, A. C., [1904] (1974), ''Shakesperean Tragedy'', Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, p. 169.
2. Psychoanalytical Society

Actors who have played Iago

★ Saif Ali Khan

★ Josh Hartnett

★ Edwin Booth

★ Kenneth Branagh

★ Jose Ferrer

★ Frank Finlay

★ Bob Hoskins

★ Henry Irving

★ Ian McDiarmid

★ Tim McInnerny

★ Ian McKellen

★ Laurence Olivier

★ Christopher Plummer

★ Liev Schreiber

★ Andy Serkis

★ Christopher Walken

External Links

The Romantic Iago