Words May Come and Go

Words May Come and Go

            The written word is often of the utmost importance to immortalize and romanticize the main characters and subjects of many literary works, and this can clearly be seen in many of the plays written by Shakespeare. However, one of his plays strikes me as odd in that language and verbal suggestion provoke dire consequences throwing this notion of glorifying characters to the wayside; Othello. In Othello language and the spoken word appear to be of the utmost importance to create evil and bring the characters and the story to a disastrous end. Within the play, Iago is portrayed as the antagonist and one of Shakespeare’s most evil villains by mere intellect and wit of words. Language proves to be Iago’s most important tool. His use of language, and manipulation through the use of spoken words has a pronounced impact on the characters and their psyches. Words have the power to bring a man to his knees and put an evil ploy in motion. Iago manipulates Othello and all of the characters around him, thus sending the play towards tragedy. The Moor naively believes in the good in each person and therefore never sees that his comrade and dear friend would ever turn against him. Manipulation through language and Othello’s blindness create the play as we know it, and within the play a tragic affair of irony, wit, and verbal betrayal.

            Iago longs for the power that Othello possesses and therefore becomes an ingenious manipulator, turning peoples’ weaknesses against them to try and obtain this power. Iago appears to be a “courteous and knee-crooking knave" but he is always scheming and plotting his next move against the people around him. He must make Othello believe that he is a loyal friend and right hand man, “keep yet their hearts attending on themselves," [1.1.51]. Othello even goes so far to call “Honest Iago” a good man, which is true irony because his character is anything but honest and good willed. Iago uses his friends’ desires against them; this is the case with Roderigo, a suitor who is desperately in love with Desdemona. Iago is aware of these longings and uses them to his advantage knowing Roderigo will do anything to protect Desdemona and therefore, “Thus do I ever make my fool my purse" [1.3.370]. Iago uses his deceit to trick his foolish friend and in doing so benefits from great sums of money and jewelry from Roderigo, which furthers his evil plan for power.

            Iago is also brilliant with wit and spontaneity. When Michael Cassio (a man promoted by Othello and a true friend) grabs Desdemona’s hand innocently Iago jumps at the opportunity to turn the situation into one of pure and evil trickery, "With as little a web as this will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio" [2.1.167]. The use of this ploy sets in motion the insecurity that Othello feels and thus starts the self-destruction of the Moor. Othello’s greatest tragedy is his naiveté of human nature. As a character who predominately deals with prejudice because of his skin color and his role in society, he has too strong a belief and loyalty in people, especially in Iago. Because of his pride, Othello never sees the evil lurking around him. Iago, Othello’s friend and fellow soldier secretly has other plans for Othello, “…though I do hate him as I do hell (pains,) yet, for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and sign of love” [1.1.144]. Iago pretends to like Othello for the sole purpose of destroying him. Iago believes that Othello slept with his wife Emilia, and will stop it nothing to devastate the Moor, “…Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards, and nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife” [2.1. 281]. These lines show the level of hate that plainly plants itself inside Iago’s mind, heart, and intentions; a pure villain.

            Iago devises a manipulative plan to implant madness and insecurity into Othello against his true love Desdemona, one of the few honest and virtuous characters that surrounds him. Blind to the evils of man and the greed he possesses, Othello never sees the scheme posed by his comrade until madness has overcome him. Throughout the play, bits and pieces of Iago’s masterpiece fall together, and he becomes closer with Othello warning him of the jealousies of man, when in turn he himself is the jealous and paranoid one, “…O, beware my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss…Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet (strongly) loves” [3.3. 166]. Iago warns Othello to beware of jealousy towards his wife, saying it will destroy him, and although Othello begins to fall under Iago’s spell, he claims his wife is virtuous still. He also vows to never become jealous, “…Think’st thou I’d make a life of jealousy, to follow still the changes of the moon with fresh suspicions? No” [3.3.177]. Othello claims to never become that which ultimately destroys him, ironically because Iago planted an evil seed of doubt in the Moor’s mind. This makes Iago one of the most “perfect” villains in that he never truly does anything to the characters, he simply plants ideas in their minds, and they build up the destructive ideals that consume them all. Iago is never implicated by his ‘actions’; he merely uses himself as an implementation to his treachery and trickery.

Iago convinces Emilia, unwittingly, to participate in his deadly scheme: “…What handkerchief? Why, that the Moor first gave Desdemona, that which so often you did bid me steal…” [3.3.308]. Not knowing the consequences of this action, Iago makes Emilia an accomplice to her mistresses’ death. Emilia does not realize until the end of the play that she may know of her husbands misdoings, “…I will be hang’d if some eternal villain, some cogging, coezing slave, to get some office, have not devised this slander. I will be hang’d” [4.2.126]. This truth that Emilia uncovers threatens Iago’s plan and he looks to silence her with death. Only a man of pure evil with a self-serving agenda could involve innocent people in a plan to further his power. Thus, only a man of pure evil could plan to kill his wife when she stands in the way of his scheming. Richard White, a researcher who wrote Studies in Shakespeare states, “Iago is troubled with no scruples, absolutely none. He has intellectual perceptions of right and wrong, but he is utterly without the moral sense. He has but one guide of conduct, self-interest” (White 275). Iago has no reason to ruin lives, except for what he believes happened between Othello and Emilia. It is ironic that Iago has no proof of his wife’s infidelity yet he believes it without a doubt and he destructively puts the same grain of thought into Othello’s head with Desdemona.

            At the end of the play, Othello truly becomes the evil beast society portrays him to be which switches his role with Iago since he is now a murderer. He becomes wild with madness and jealousy, “…Ay let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, for she shall not live, my heart is turned to stone…” [4.1.183]. Othello goes into seizures of rage and hate all because Iago mislead and influenced him. “O” is ultimately blind to the evils that his soldier has against him, and Iago intelligently betrays Othello with each word he speaks, and each move he makes. Othello looks to him as a brother, as he rightfully should, but because of this trust he possesses, he is naïve to the alternate self-serving plans that people often have. White mentions of this traitor, “There is no mistaking Shakespeare's intention in the delineation of this character. He meant him for a most attractive, popular, good-natured, charming, selfish, cold-blooded and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel” (White 277). Iago is not the “honest Iago” people believe him to be, but rather proves to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains, using only manipulative words. Unlike many of the plays we’ve read, language and words spoken by Iago vilify and reinforce the negative rather than immortalize and romanticize. He is a true villain that lets the players in his game make all the wrong moves and tragically self-destruct.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. W. Swan Sonnenschein & co. 1883. Print.

White, Richard Grant. Studies in Shakespeare. New York: AMS, 1973. Print.