Iago Perfect Villain

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------------------------------------------------- "Iago is the perfect villain. He neither respects moral beauty as seen in Desdemona, nor the grand nobleness of the mighty-souled Othello. The purest of all sentiments is, in his mind, a mere "lust of the blood and a permission of the will." It is utterly foreign to his nature." Do you agree? Discuss the character and motives of Iago drawing on the examples/evidence from the text that you have collected. Write about 2 pages. I do agree that Iago is the perfect villain as he does not believe in love and has persuaded himself that it is just the “lust of the blood and a permission of the will”, in other words you feel love because you feel lust and you have no willpower to control that lust, so it becomes his possessive goal to prove that one can fight it, persuading the audience that Iago is lost and paranoid. Shakespeare develops him as an amoral character as opposed to the typical immoral driven villain that every audience is accustomed to and this amorality and lack of humanity allows Iago to easily manipulate others and use their weakness against them to achieve what he wants without feeling any doubt or guilt. Iago’s deceitfulness can be seen progressing throughout the play and it is reflected in his actions and motives to become the position he feels he most justly deserves, the General’s Second in Command. In Iago's actions, we see the portrait of a man who will stop at nothing until he feels his justice has been served on everyone he feels has wronged him and his deceitful character allows him to carry through the steps to becoming what he desires. It becomes apparent that Shakespeare is portraying, through the character of Iago, the destructive nature of vengeance to his audience. He presents Iago as an honest and respected soldier, to show that not every vengeful villain is what they appear to be, again
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