Shakespear Play Analysis( Othello)

21 April 2009

Iago 's Success as a Villain in Shakespeare 's Othello

Shakespeare 's plays mostly end in the tragedy of the protagonist due to forces outside himself or due to his own undoing . The Tragedy of Othello is one of these plays . It tells the story of Othello who is a Moor soldier in the service of Venice . He marries Desdemona but kills her because of jealousy and later he kills himself after knowing he has done wrong . Iago , the villain in the story has successfully deceived Othello to believe

Desdemona 's infidelity which caused Othello 's ultimate downfall

Iago 's vengeful attitude motivates him to carry out his plans of destroying Othello , Cassio and all the others who got involved . His envy , anger , love for money , opportunism , and , unfounded jealousy are added to this negative characteristic which makes him a perfect villain At the beginning of the play , he cannot accept that Othello chose Cassio who only knows more theory than practice in being a soldier over him who is more experienced to be his lieutenant . He is also envious of Cassio 's position . He also wants to get money from Roderigo so he encourages him to pursue after Desdemona ' s love by conniving with him . He is opportunistic at the same time . Later in the play , it is revealed that Roderigo has given him some jewels that were meant to be gifts for Desdemona . But these were never received by Desdemona . Lastly , he felt an unfounded...