Iago's Honesty

         Iago is often regarded as Shakepeare's most consummate villain. This is understandable; it is hard to imagine a villain capable of matching the combination of diabolical nature and supreme skill that Iago uses to systematically take control. Iago's first attempt to gain control is a retaliation against Othello's promotional decision. When Michael Cassio is chosen for the position of lieutenant, Iago becomes furious and tries to place Othello in danger; he informs Brabantio of Othello's elopement with Desdemona in a very clever way: " 'Zounds, sir, you're robbed. For shame, put on your gown, Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul. Even now, now, very now, an old black ram is tupping your white ewe" (1.1.86-89). Iago uses sexual imagery to fuel Brabantio's anger. This extra anger, caused by Iago, has potential of harming Othello. When this evil scheme fails, Iago results to a new plan. In Act II, Scene 1, Iago convinces Roderigo that Desdemona actually loves Cassio, and persuades

Iago takes what most of us see as good and uses those traits against characters in the play. He is able to take something as pure as Othello and Desdemona’s love or Cassio’s loyalty as a weakness that he can pounce on. “He holds me well; The better shall my purpose work on him.” (I, iii, 381-382) Iago possesses no good qualities so as a jealous pay back he takes trust and turns it against the trusting and then tries to take it even further for himself.

Othello’s trust for Iago enables Iago to completely discredit Othello as the good guy of the play when Iago manipulates him into thinking Desdemona was unfaithful to him with Cassio. Even though Othello must know in his heart that Desdemona would not betray him, he is so caught up by Iago's efforts and has fallen for his manipulative lies, that all rational thoughts abandons Othello and he ultimately ends up murdering his wife since to Othello betrayal was immoral. At the end of play, even Othello can hardly believe what he has done because he thinks of himself as, "One not easily jealous, but, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme..." meaning that he has acted out of character and only in the interests of honor. Iago’s betrayal to those such as Othello and Desdemona, ultimately successfully destroyed everyone, himself included.

Iago takes what most of us see as good and uses those traits against characters in the play. He is able to take something as pure as Othello and Desdemona's love or Cassio's loyalty as a weakness that he can pounce on. "He holds me well; The better shall my purpose work on him." (I, iii, 381-382) Iago possesses no good qualities so as a jealous pay back he takes trust and turns it against the trusting and then tries to take it even further for himself.

The event of Othello’s elopement is the turning point for Iago’s obsession and plot to destroy his life by sabotaging his relationships with Desdemona and his closest friends. Othello’s tragic flaw of trusting the wrong people leads him to his demise. Iago’s first plan of action brings Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, into play. He speaks of how “The Moor”, Othello, is deflowering his daughter’s purity. “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe” (1.1.88-89) (Othello.) Iago’s obsession goes so far as to bring his own wife into his plot without her knowledge. Iago asks Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief as “evidence” of her infidelity. “My wayward husband hath a hundred times / Woo’d me to steal it; but she so loves the token....I’ll have the work ta’en out, And give’t Iago: what he will do with it Heaven knows, not I; I nothing but to please his fantasy.” (3.3.292-299) (Othello.) A man who prided himself on being trustworthy was so blinded with jealousy and hatred that he would sabotage his own wife to take down Othello’s life.

Firstly, Iago showed how he was the perfect villain with his ability to manipulate characters throughout the play. By manipulating other characters Iago can forward his plan of ruining Othello without other characters becoming suspicious. One character that Iago often manipulates is his friend Roderigo, this one character is the one that mainly does all the hard work of Iago. This quote: “Desdemona should continue her love to the Moor-put/money in thy purse-nor he his to her. It was a violent commencement in her, and thou shalt see an/answerable sequestration-put but money in thy purse. (1.3 334-338) convinced Roderigo to not kill himself and to continue to believe in Iago’s plan of making Desdemona to stop loving the Moor. Roderigo is in love and this is one reason why he is unable to realize that he is manipulated by Iago. Also, Iago manipulates Cassio to go talk to Desdemona, but Cassio is totally oblivious that he plans to use this to the Moor with jealousy. The quote: “I’ll send her to you presently; /and I’ll devise a means to draw the Moor/out of the way, that your converse and business/May be more free. (3.3 37-40) convinced Cassio to talk to Desdemona, which consequently shaped Othello to be even more jealous than before.

Othello is the character with whom most of Iago's methods have success. His weakness as a jealous lover is apparent early on, but only after Iago’s has planted the seeds of doubt within his mind. Such is Othello’s trust for Iago that he uses the misnomer of describing Iago as ‘honest Iago’ and irony considering the action held within the play.  The trust is obvious and implicit and thoroughly entrenched within the language. Othello surmises on the aforementioned doubts during the last act of the play when he says;

Iago abuses Othello’s trusting inclination in order both further his personal rank and ruin the lives of those he feels have wronged him. Trusting by nature, Othello initially refuses to see anything but the best in people, including Iago. Iago exploits this by making Othello believe things that are completely false. In Othello’s view Iago would not lie to him because he had no reason to and had never done so before. Iago does this because he feels he has been wronged when told that “[Cassio]… must his lieutenant be… and I his Moorship’s ancient” (I i 35). Iago thinks that he should be given the position that was given instead to Cassio, and he feels that he must take brutal revenge on Othello for being the source of his calamities. Using the trust bestowed upon him by Othello Iago feeds rumors to Othello that trigger jealousy and arouse

In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago gains the trust of Roderigo by manipulating him so he can gain wealth out of him. Iago brings back the hope to Roderigo, who already thought of committing suicide, by saying to him that soon enough Desdemona will not find any interest in Othello. All that Roderigo has to do is to keep the income going for Iago if he wants Desdemona to be with him instead of Othello. For that to happen they have to plan on revenge on Othello by making him think that his wife is cheating on him.

Despite the fact that he acts out of love for his wife, this is not enough to justify his actions and we are still left with the paradox of ‘honest Iago’. Moreover, it can be deducted that through the deceit of honesty, the lives of many are destroyed and torn apart. Iago utterly destroys Desdemona, Roderigo, Cassio, Emilia, and Othello, all due to a fit of rage caused by a lack of a promotion. He is portrayed throughout the play as ‘honest Iago’, yet we, as the audience, see another side of him all together.

In William Shakespeare's play, Othello, Iago is able to control Othello and Roderigo by exploiting their weaknesses, and is able to manipulate them into doing heinous acts, which in the end leads to their downfall. This is shown through Iago taking advantage of Othello’s insecurities, Roderigo’s love for Desdemona, and both their gullibility. Iago takes advantage of Othello’s self-doubt. Despite Othello’s high ranking, his insecurities about his reputation, origins, and relationship, allow Iago to manipulate him into believing that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him, turning him into a jealous monster, bent on revenge.

Iago chooses to use Othello’s insecurities about himself, especially his race, to manipulate him. In the beginning we see how head over heels Othello is for Desdemona, but by the end of the story Iago has so twisted his beliefs about Desdemona that he decides he should kill her because of her supposed infidelity. First, Iago puts doubt in Othello’s mind by basically telling him that because of his race, he is not good enough for Desdemona or her family. Next, he makes it a point to reveal to Othello that the very fact that Desdemona chose him shows that she is already crazy, which means that they would not put it past her to cheat or do something worse. By now, Iago has deeply rooted a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind.

355,] By playing on his hopes, Iago is able to conjure money and jewels from Roderigo, making himself a profit, while using Roderigo to further his other plans. He also thinks stealthy on his feet and is able to improvise whenever something unexpected occurs. When Cassio takes hold of Desdemona's hand before the arrival of the Moor Othello, Iago says, "With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio." [II, i, 163] This language demonstrates the evil inside Iago’s goals of retrieving absolute power. He actually even says of himself, "I am an honest man...." [II, iii, 245] Iago slowly corrupts the character’s thoughts, creating ideas in their minds without implicating himself. His "medicine works! Thus credulous fools are caught...." [II, i, 44] "And what's he then that says I play the villain, when this advice is free I give, and honest," [II, iii, 299] says Iago. In turn, people rarely stop to consider the fact that old Iago could be deceiving and manipulating them; yet they are convinced that he is "Honest Iago." From these quotes from “Othello” it is proven that the dialogue used between Iago and the others is manipulative causing an evil outcome.

The first criterion that Iago must meet is, “Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure” (DSM 660). Throughout the play there are countless instances that fully showcase Iago’s manipulative capabilities. For example, when convincing Othello that Desdemona has given Cassio her handkerchief, he says, “And to see how he prizes the foolish woman your wife! She gave it to him, and he hath giv’n it his whore.”(Shakespeare 4.1. 196-198). It is these exact words that lead Othello to his jealous murder of Desdemona which leads to large amounts of death and destruction towards the end of the play. The DSM elaborates on this criterion by describing the person in question as “frequently deceitful and manipulative in order to gain personal profit or pleasure” (DSM 660). This is consistent with Iago’s character as well, seeing as how his agenda against

While filling Othello’s ears with lies and hatred, Iago says that “I know not that: but such a handkerchief I am sure it was your wife’s- did I today see Cassio wipe his beard with” (Shakespeare, 67). Iago is poisoning Othello’s ears by telling him about the ocular proof that Othello was asking for all along. Furthermore, Iago uses another excellent technique to manipulate Othello by making remember the past events. Iago says to Othello that, “she did deceive her father, marrying you, and when she seemed to shake, and fear your looks, she loved them most” (Shakespeare, 59). Iago is explaining to Othello that if Desdemona can deceive her father by marrying Othello, she can deceive him too. Iago also tells Othello that Desdemona fell for his looks because he is an outsider. Iago is excellent at manipulating the situation and filling others’ ears with lies, which makes his plan successful without anyone suspecting him.