Shakespeare has used some pretty great antagonist figures in the history of his plays. Many are easily remembered for their diabolical plots—and Othello’s villain, Iago, is no exception. In fact, he can be considered one of the best villains in the entire Shakespeare universe.
Iago was once considered Othello’s best friend until Othello overlooked him for the lieutenant position, instead giving it to Cassio. This arguably the reason he “hates the Moor” (1.3.429). However, in Act 2, Scene 3, he gets Cassio drunk which causes him to be disorderly and pick a fight with Montano. Because of this, Cassio is dismissed from the lieutenancy and the position is given to Iago. This is what he wanted, so shouldn’t he be satisfied? You’d think so… instead, Iago continues to meddle in Cassio and Othello’s lives, just because he wants to. Iago is an example of a villain who conducts evil, just for evil’s sake. He uses the handkerchief to frame Cassio just so it would make Othello jealous enough to leave Desdemona (3.3.368-377). He doesn’t do this because he wants to be with her, he just does it to screw with his “good buddy” Othello. Other Shakespeare villains typically have some kind of motive for their wrong doings. For example, Shylock from “Merchant of Venice” was the antagonist, doing harm to Antonio because people did harm to him because of his Jewish faith. Another example is Lady Macbeth from “Macbeth” was corrupted by a lust for power. Iago? Just because he wanted to. For this reason, Iago is one of Shakespeare’s best antagonists.
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It would be extremely predictable to say that Iago--the brilliant main antagonist of Shakespeare's Othello--is the reason everything “hit the fan” so to speak. However, when you pull apart each of the individual characters and analyze how their actions influenced the plot, one may think differently. Although Iago did set him up, Othello’s actions could have been avoided if he had only talked to his wife about the situation and remained trusting. That’s right, Othello—the “protagonist” of the play—is more at fault than the evil villain. Othello and Desdemona had a fairly healthy relationship from the beginning; it was show that they loved each other from the way they reunited when Othello came back from the almost war. Othello exclaims that he “cannot speak enough of this content” upon seeing his wife again (2.1.214). However, after Iago fills Othello with the fear that Cassio confessed that Des is cheating with him (4.1.40-49), he immediately doesn’t trust her. This distrust could have potentially been avoided if they just talked--something they did multiple times, but for the wrong reasons. One of the conversations they had was regarding the missing handkerchief. Othello continued to rudely demand "the handkerchief" over and over again (3.4.107). However, he was lied to by Des, saying "it is not lost," (3.4. 98) even though the audience knows she doesn't have it. Desdemona could have just avoided Othello's suspicion of the handkerchief being in Cassio's possession if she told the truth, assuring him she had no idea where it was.
Des and Othello had plenty of chances to talk about the situation at hand, including the very end right before he literally suffocates her. He tells her it's too late, but it really wasn't. If the couple would have communicated in the first place, everyone dying in the end may have been avoidable. In Shakespeare’s plays, it is well known that his vocabulary is commonly feared by people who aren’t used to it. Any amiture Shakespeare reader may see this unique word choice and immediately recoil away. However, if you take a moment to study how Shakespeare uses his vocabulary, it can be fairly easy to comprehend. Shakespeare’s sentences are almost puzzle like. He shuffles the subject and and verb in sentences. A random example of this in Othello is: “Are to the jealous confirmations strong” (3.3.371). Shakespeare uses these types of sentences a lot. The thing to remember is that it is an example of his odd subject-verb shuffling technique. If you see sentences like this, the best thing to do is piece them together in a way that make sense to you.
Shakespeare couples these odd sentence structures with a very different vocabulary. Shakespeare’s word choice is different by using older words that most people aren't used to. Most of the time, no one knows the meaning of them either. The best thing to do is not to stress too much on words you don’t know. Skip the word giving you trouble and focus on comprehending what’s going on instead. Usually, these single words do not have a tremendous impact on the plot. If you skip it and want to come back to look into it later, feel free. Shakespeare is also a big fan of using long, convoluted speeches, usually known as soliloquies. These long speeches are best if they are broken down and analyzed in bits. It can be overwhelming with so many lines at once, but looking at them piece by piece can be very helpful! |
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