Othello - Iago's Manipulation

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William Shakespeare’s “Othello” is an illustrious tragedy set in Venice, Italy. The work revolves around four central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army; his new wife, Desdemona; his lieutenant, Cassio; and his trusted slave, Iago. Because of its varied and current themes of racism, love, revenge jealousy and betrayal, “Othello” is still often performed in theatres and has been the basis for numerous operatic, film and literary adaptations. Iago’s soliloquy at the end of act 2 scene 1 tells us a considerable amount about the characters and themes in the play. It explains Iago’s insatiable desire for revenge against Othello, explores the theme of jealousy in the play, and gives light to Iago’s manipulative deceptions and dishonesties. The soliloquy highlights a lot of important facts about the central characters and themes in “Othello”.
The extract explains Iago’s relentless desire for revenge against Othello. As Iago believes that the Moor has wronged him in many ways, he sees it somewhat appropriate to plot revenge against him and those close to him. Iago has many rather theoretical reasons for his revenge, one of which being his failure to receive the spot of lieutenant, and the other being that he “suspect[s] the lusty Moor” of sleeping with his wife, Emilia. Iago, being a very jealous and icy man sees that the only way to be “even’d with him” is to go “wife for wife”. Iago’s revenge is a carefully plotted strategy that involves many intricate details and occurrences. This extract tells the reader a lot about Iago’s plan that has previously only been assumed. Iago is so emotionally detached that he claims his ‘love’ for Desdemona exists predominantly “to diet [his] revenge”. Despite all the plotting against Othello, Iago wants no tension to exist between the two, by never having him know who wronged him so. Even after all the revenge
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