Shakespeares Othello - Iagos Deception as Catalyst for Truth Essay

Iago Deception as Catalyst for Truth The audience result achieve a more complete understanding of Iago in The Tragedy of Othello if Iago is viewed as a complex character and not simply as a conventional villain. Iagos devious schemes destroy lives both literally and figuratively, but they may also serve to reveal the character of others in intricate ways. A detailed interpretation of Iago reveals that although he is principally a deceiver, he is also a dramatic agent of truth. Even though his acts are malicious and deceitful, the title guileless Iago is fitting in the sense that he reveals the true nature of his victims, as well as the propensity for human beings to act in accordance with their inherently dark natures. While based in deception, Iagos machinations expose the truth of Brabantios hidden racism, Cassios inner vanity, and Othellos repressed sexual possessiveness. Iago cleverly emphasizes the issue of race and its association with shenanigan when he and Roderigo annou nce to Brabantio that Desdemona has eloped with Othello. Iago is the first to emphasize the biracial nature of the marriage by referring to Othello as an old menacing ram and to Desdemona as a snow-covered ewe (1.1.85-86).1 Iago then associates Othello with the image of the devil (88) because he is black, warning Brabantio that he has lost half his soul (84) now that Desdemona is married to Othello. It is Iago who initially suggests that Othello exemplifies the stereotype that a black person is inherently evil and likely to be a practitioner of witchcraft. Granted, it is unlikely that Iagos few brief statements give birth to Brabantio as a antiblack yet by plaguing Brabantios thoughts with a dialogue that feeds his natural tendency tow... ...ility to perceive Iago completely is the natural human tendency to deny that which is abhorrent in our profess natures, and to find scapegoats on which to place the blame for our darker sides. As a conventional villain, Iago becomes an easy scapegoat we place the responsibility for the moral failings of others on his ability to contain and deceive. Yet as an agent of truth, Iagos most meaningful revelation is that we tend to deny the reality that, as human beings, we all possess the propensity to venture what is foreign to us in racist ways, to esteem ourselves too highly, or to be sexually motivated and possessive. Indeed, Iago has the last laugh in being upright Iago as an agent of truth-for he manipulates not only the characters, but the audience as well. Note 1. All references to Othello are from the Signet Classic Edition (New York Penguin, 1998).