Iago’s Motives in Othello Othello is one of William Shakespeare’s Shakespeare’s most famous and widely recognised plays. A well respected soldier and newly married man, Othello appears to be in an enviable position. Yet when supposed friend ago puts his hidden agenda into action he plants a seed of doubt in Othello’s mind over his wife’s fidelity until he is ultimately consumed by his !ealousy and suspicion. "he intense love between Othello and #esdemona descends descends until innocence is corrupted and trust is eroded as the relationship relationshi p is sent into a downw downward ard spiral. "he character of ago can be viewed as the true villain of the play because despite Othello being the one to smother his wife to death, he reached that point of to$ic !ealousy due to ago’s plan to delude the once admirable soldier. ago has several motives driving him such as missing out on the promotion from Othello, !ealousy over #esdemon #esdemona a and Othello’s love, offence taken to being under a man like Othello and also poses the %uestion that maybe he had no motives to begin with and he is merely merely a character made of pure evil. t is these motives that are pushing his character to weave such malevolent schemes with the intention of corrupting many of the plays characters until by the last act when we witness them all ultimately meet their downfall. ago’s true side is revealed to the audience as we watch him poison the relationship of Othello and #esdemona, cascading into a tangled web of !ealousy, suspicion and self doubt. "he most obvious motive of ago’s is made clear to us at in the very first act of the play. &assio was given a promotion over ago by Othello. 'ot only does this give insight into his character’s true motives and scheming ways planning to get back at Othello by e$posing his clandestine relationship with #esdemona, but it also shows his insecurities. (e feels that Othello went for the educated &assio over himself when he has more e$perien e$perience, ce, as &assio has “never set a squadron in the field.” "his "his highlights to the audience the insecurity that ago’s character holds over his academic abilities having been shunned because of them. We also gain a sense of ago’s $enophobia when he criticises “One Michael Cassio, a Florentine” as as he himself is a loyal )enetian. )enetian. We can see that ago is parochial as he makes criticism over &assio being from *lorence, which at the time this play was written during the era of +liabethan +ngland, *lorence although a part of taly was an independent state. -ecause of missing out on the promotion ago is angry with Othello and resents &assio causing some of his own !ealousy to brew to the surface, which ends up being the weapon he uses to destroy Othello and get his revenge. Yet it is revealed to the audience that ago has suspected Othello of having “done having “done [his] office. [He] know not if it be true” . -ecause of this t his previously underlying underlying suspicion that ago has surrounding Othello’s Othello’s character committing adultery with his wife +milia, it may be that now after not receiving the promotion he actually has a valid reason to base his revenge off he can act on his yearning to destroy Othello. We also see another aspect of !ealousy through ago’s character, being his envy of #esdemona and Othello’s love. (e is insulted that a man like Othello from 'orthern Africa could have the ability to woo woo a beautiful girl like #esdemona #esdemona who is pure and innocent despite there being a large age gap between the two. We also receive criticism from ago about their relationshi relationship p suggesting that they should not be together because of such a large age gap and “it cannot be that esde!ona should lon" continue her love to the Moor#she !ust chan"e for $outh”. $outh”. ago ago possibly has a secret passion for Othello’s new bride and this is reinforced to us later on in the play when we see !ust how sour his relationship with wife +milia can be. "here is %uite often a power struggle between the two and she feels that %d&s 'it$, who would not !ake her husband a cuckold, to !ake hi! a !onarch” enforcing to the audience that the only way for a woman to hold power over her husband is to cheat on him as it makes him look like a fool. (owever this newly e$posed motive of ago’s could also
add some e$planation to divulging Othello and #esdemona’s elopement in act one of the play and it wasn’t !ust for his !ealousy over the promotion but !ealousy over the though of “an old black ra! is tu''in" [a] white ewe” revealing to the audience the hidden eal ago holds for soughtafter #esdemona. ago also has an element of racism to his character in the play Othello. (e feels offended at the fact that he, a loyal and well respected )enetian, must be under the rule and orders of a northern African leader. #uring the period of +liabethan +ngland the only role that black men would have in society would be as slaves. ago uses racist terms throughout the play referring to Othello as “thick li's” and even “the !oor of (enice” which is used numerous times by many characters is a common term from the middle ages used to refer to the black people who came over to +urope from /orocco. Shakespeare has used the word moor as synonym for the word African throughout Othello. ago feels that it is almost shameful to be under a character like Othello’s and is has even more !ealousy seep into him when seeing that a black man like Othello could woo a young beauty like #esdemona. "his offence ago has taken to Othello grows even more after he doesn’t pick him to be his lieutenant and it eventually leads his grudge to drive him to become so deceitful and to$ic that he drives Othello into the ground until he is a man left with noting !ust like ago thinks he should have been in the first place. t can however be argued that these motives of ago’s are !ust what the audience have read into and that the only true answer to his into$icating pollution of Othello in the play is due to him being blatantly made of evil. As critic Samuel "aylor &oleridge states ago’s character contains “!otiveless !ali"nanc$” and this can be reinforced when ago talks about “be con)unctive a"ainst hi!. *f thou canst cuckold hi!, thou dost th$self a 'leasure !e a s'ort” and also him benefiting from him corrupting Othello. t is as if ago finds that driving Othello into the ground to be like a twisted mind game especially because he plays on Othello’s thoughts and suspicions using his !ealousy and anger. t makes the audience consider that if the tables had turned and ago received the promotion over &assio and had no suspicions or !ealous feelings, would he somehow create another motive in his mind for going after Othello in his machiavellian like way. ago can be described as being the gardener of the play. (e plants the seed and lets it bloom then poisons it, bringing everything surrounding down along with it. "o be able to drive a man to smother his own wife and then kill himself without any regret or guilt along the way makes it hard for the audience to settle on another reason other than ago’s character being a concoction of evil created by Shakespeare. William Shakespeare’s Othello creates a character out of ago that can spark much debate on his true motives behind Othello’s downfall. While there are a number of reasons that could have driven him to commit such an act there is always that feeling the audiences gains that a crime to the e$tent of ago’s can have no e$cuse or motivation behind it apart from being created out of a purely evil mind and thoughts. t can be argued that the delight ago takes from his mind games makes him comparable to Satan and how he so easily creates Othello’s honour, loyalty, worship, and fidelity into commodities to be gambled with while stirring his thoughts around in !ealous suspicions. While many may see corrupted and greeneyed Othello as being the villain of the play, smothering his sweet and caring wife, the brain behind it all was ago. Shakespeare’s other plays such as /acbeth contains a protagonist that drives themselves into the ground due to been overwhelmed by their fatal flaw. (owever in Othello it is ago how enforces Othello’s fatal flaw onto him until he is consumed by it to the point of no return. As William 0obertson "urnbull says of ago’s character in Othello being “an unbeliever in, and denier of, all thin"s s'iritual, who onl$ acknowled"es "od, like +atan, to def$ hi!.”
