Character Analysis of IAGO

Iago says of himself "I am not what I am " This points to a psychologically unstable condition , but a self-aware condition . 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 you 'll not hear me . If ever I did dream of such a matter , Abhor me (1 .1 .4 (Calderwood , 1989 ,

. 94

Despite Iago 's complexities of character and the viability of viewing his character as a manifestation

of a sociopath , another , less complimentary interpretation for Shakespeare 's 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 people 's impressions of Iago as a fascinating , multifaceted study in evil (Hall , 1999 ,

. 71 ) That said , it is still a viable criticism of the play that Iago 's 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 movement 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 "dark 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 Shakespeare 's great genius in the creation of Iago...