Explain how Iago manipulates the other characters in the play Othello

Iago is not only an ingenious villain but also a manipulator with the utmost skill. Iago creates hatred and jealousy in Othello, tricks Cassio and makes a fool of Roderigo. He holds everyone that is important in his plans in the palm of his hand and he does with them as he so wishes. But how is this? How is one man able to manipulate so many and create so much hatred and jealousy that all sense is no more?

Throughout the play, Iago makes the reasons, for why he is carrying out this evil plan, clear to us. He tells us that he does it all not only because he is jealous, of Cassio being promoted above him and he suspects “the Moor” slept with his wife, but he also does these treacherous deeds for as he says “my sport and profit”. These are the reasons why from the beginning of the play Iago intends to end Othello’s and Desdemona’s marriage whilst trying to make Othello suffer as much as possible.

Iago uses various methods to manipulate the characters. One of these is his ability to enter terrible images into the person’s head using descriptive and vile words. Iago uses this method on Othello and says to him “Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys” just after he is asked to provide ocular proof of Cassio and Desdemona in bed. This immediately places the terrible scene into Othello’s mind, which enrages him and makes him forget about any need for the ocular proof that he once wanted.

Probably, Iago’s most potent weapon in helping him manipulate others is the fact that he is known as “honest Iago”. All the main characters trust him and due to this he is able to give them advice, which they think might benefit them but rather is getting them caught in Iago’s web. This occurs many times and one such moment is when Cassio thinks Iago is trying to aid him by telling him to “Confess yourself / freely to her”, meaning that Cassio should ask Desdemona for help in restoring friendly relations between himself and Othello. Although what Iago intends to happen is very different, he wants Cassio and Desdemona to speak privately and then bring Othello to them “where he may Cassio find / soliciting his wife”. By capitalising on Desdemona’s sympathy, Iago knows that she will do her utmost to aid Cassio by pleading with Othello. This will only strengthen Iago’s evidence and make it easier for him to manipulate The Moor.

Another of Iago’s advantages over the other characters is his ability to exploit and turn around situations, if need be, and make them look as if it were wrong and dangerous when in fact the person who does it means no harm or wrong in the first place. He does this in the same scene as above when him and Othello find Cassio asking help from Desdemona and when Cassio leaves suspiciously he replies to Othello’s question, “Was not that Cassio”, by saying ” I cannot think it, / That he would steal away so guilty like”. This implies that Cassio was doing something wrong and that he left because he did not want to get caught. When in fact the real reason why Cassio sneaked away was that he did not want to enrage Othello further.

The handkerchief is one of Othello’s most prized possessions. He loves it for his mother gave it to him and he gave it to Desdemona as a symbol of his love. This is the reason why Iago steals it and decides “in Cassio’s lodging lose this napkin / and let him find it”. He decides to do this because he knows he will eventually have to show Othello proof of Cassio’s and Desdemona’s love and when The Moor sees Cassio with the handkerchief he would be put into a ” jealousy so strong / That judgement cannot cure”.

Jealousy is only one of Othello’s characteristics that Iago exploits. He knows The Moor “holds me well” and “thinks men honest” and due to this he is able to quickly manipulate Othello and control his mind. It is important that he is able to get Othello under his influence with the utmost speed because if he were to linger, after he already told Othello about his suspicions of Cassio and Desdemona, and not provide further and more convincing evidence, Othello would begin to grow suspicious of Iago’s doings. Iago also knows that it is easy “to abuse /  his wife” because of the kind of man Othello thinks Cassio is.

An interesting topic to study is sections in the various movie of the play Othello. In one such movie, which was released in 1964, during Act 4, Scene 1, Iago (Frank Finlay) and Othello (Lawrence Oliver) are standing upon a very “Spartan” like stage alone with huge columns. As the two characters converse, whilst near to each other, there is a medium close up camera view Othello who is facing the camera while Iago is facing it side on for the director feels that Othello is more important. During one point in this scene there is a part where Iago is behind Othello whispering in his ear, the same way a devil sitting on your shoulder would who is trying to poison your mind. In this scene Iago is being friendly yet differential and even to an audience who Iago is unknown, he will seem suspicious and someone who means to inflict pain.

Whereas in another Othello movie, which is produced by the BBC, Bob Hoskins, in my view, plays Iago much better because he is much more calm and seems to be more convincing. He is more convincing for he speaks in an innocent tone as if he has nothing to do with the problems that Othello has and that it is not of a large importance to him. The scene as a whole also takes on a more realistic and believable setting unlike the movie I mentioned earlier, for example: It is set mainly in a large hallway rather than on a stage and there are props, like seats and windows, which are present instead of pillars alone with a painted background. The acting also takes on a very different shape; the actors seem to be more relaxed, except Othello of course who is just as tense, they sit and converse rather than remain standing all the time. Finally, when Othello faints and remains on the ground, Iago sits and leans over him showing the shift in power between the two men, Iago now controls Othello. This also occurs when Iago takes Othello to the bedroom to show Othello “the bed she hath contaminated”; it is unusual to see the servant leading the master by their hand.

There is an American civil war version of this play as well and in this movie Iago (Sir Ian Mckellen) is a lot like the previous two characters. He is calm and convincing yet still somewhat suspicious. The same scene as the one I have mentioned in the other two movies takes place in a courtyard with buildings surrounding it, which are used by Othello. He hides in the building so as to be able to listen to Iago and Cassio converse. Iago’s soliloquies, unlike the other movies, are spoken with Iago facing the camera and addressing the audience, this makes the audience part of the play and Iago’s dubious plan. In my view this scene is almost as good as the BBC production and better than the 1960’s movie but the American civil war setting removes the realism from the original play.

It is easy to forget that Iago had almost pulled of an incredibly difficult plan only with his skill as a manipulator and his ingenious brain but for almost all the play Iago seems to have one vitally important ingredient on his side, luck. One such example of this is in act 4, Scene 1, when Othello is listening to Cassio and Iago’s conversation, he gets extremely mad because he thinks Cassio “laughed at his vice”, when in fact Cassio was laughing about Bianca, which his conversation with Iago was really about. Iago is doing something extremely dangerous here and gets lucky because during the whole time that Othello is listening to the two men conversing Bianca’s name isn’t mentioned once and Othello believes they were talking about Desdemona. Whilst if Bianca’s name was mentioned and Othello heard it, Iago’s plan would suffer a major set back.

The end of the play reveals Iago as the wicked person that he truly is. He fails not because of Cassio or Othello initially working out his sinister plan but because of his honest wife and her love for Desdemona. Iago gets Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief, which as I see is a clumsy an avoidable mistake. Even though the handkerchief was extremely important in helping him spin his web around Othello and he could not do without it, but I am sure he would have thought of another way to get the handkerchief and use it as he so wishes. Emilia finally works out what Iago has done when she finds a strangled Desdemona and Othello who has just committed murder. Othello tells her why he has this “foul murders done” and also tells her that it was Iago who had told him all his suspicions and showed him the handkerchief as proof. That is when Emilia realises that it was she herself who stole the handkerchief and gave it to Iago who wanted it and that Desdemona could not have given it to Cassio. She confesses to Othello and the rest of what she had done and Othello finally finds out that Iago was the one doing him wrong. The one man that he most trusted.

There is no doubt of Iago’s ability to manipulate people. He lies, steals and corrupts Othello’s mind and he manages to do it without anyone even suspecting him. In my opinion, Iago knows what he is doing wrong yet during the play he shows no sign of emotion, for the guilt and sorrow he is putting Othello through. This is because Iago’s hatred for Othello is so great that he looses all sense of right and wrong that is why he is able to commit himself fully to all the bad things he does. Iago manipulates Othello because of jealousy; Othello kills Desdemona because of jealousy and in my opinion acting on jealousy is one of the worst sin a man can ever commit.