Critics: Iago

Question 1

Leavis - dramatic mechanism

Answer 1

‘Iago is subordinate and merely ancillary [to Othello]. He is not much more than a necessary piece of dramatic mechanism.’

Question 2

Despite disagreement about Iago (supreme manipulator vs accessory to Othello’s own downfall) John Wain:

Answer 2

‘they agree at least in finding him repulsive’

Question 3

Coleridge

Answer 3

‘The motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity.’

Question 4

A C Bradley

Answer 4

‘Shakespeare put a good deal of himself into Iago.’

Artistic creation

Question 5

Honigmann - power

Answer 5

‘He enjoys a godlike sense of power.’

Question 6

Honigmann - Emilia

Answer 6

‘Emilia’s love of Desdemona is Iago’s undoing.’

Question 7

Honigmann - tactics

Answer 7

‘Iago excels in short term tactics, not in long term strategy.’

Question 8

Honigmann clever

Answer 8

‘His humour makes him seem cleverer than his victims.’
‘Despite his cleverness, he has neither felt nor understood the spiritual impulses that bind ordinary human beings together.’

Question 9

Anna Jameson

Answer 9

The horror of the play lies in ‘the clash between virtuous Desdemona and malevolent Iago.’

Question 10

Bernard Spivack (quote from Scragg)

Answer 10

‘A descendent of the Vice, playing his traditionally motiveless role beneath a mask of motivated hostility.

Question 11

A C Bradley - Cassio

Answer 11

Cassio object of envy to Iago (link Anthony jealous of Caesar)

Question 12

Barbara Everett

Answer 12

Iago - patron saint of Spain - Santiago Matamoros (Moor Slayer)

Question 13

Oliver Parker

Answer 13

homosexual desires Othello

Question 14

K F Hall - white

Answer 14

‘white devil’

Question 15

K F Hall - evil

Answer 15

‘He is the evil within who escapes notice by projecting sin onto others.’

Question 16

Dr Johnson

Answer 16

‘he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised.’

Question 17

Ryan - against Coleridge ‘motiveless’

Answer 17

Villiany comes from outrage at biracial marriage.

Question 18

Against critics trying to assign a solve Iago - Hytner

Answer 18

Shakespeare has ‘pay(ed) his fellow actor the compliment of trusting him to complete Iago for himself’
‘The solution is the actor’.

Question 19

Ribner

Answer 19

‘He is a dramatic symbol of evil whose function is to cause the downfall of Othello.’

Question 20

W.H Auden

Answer 20

‘Everything Iago sets out do he accomplishes (I include his own destruction).’

Question 21

Quale (famous Iago actor) - Iago’s redeeming streak

Answer 21

‘Absolutely fantastic courage.’

Question 22

Quale

Answer 22

‘There is a tremendous bond between Iago and Othello… you only envy something you admire.’

Question 23

Lord Wavell (top general 1940s) - soldier

Answer 23

‘I’ve never met any rage of jealousy to compare with a professional soldiers… if they are passed over for promotion.’

Question 24

Scragg - Iago actually descendent of the Devil

Answer 24

‘far from being a basically motiveless, amoral figure, he is a motivated being, engaged in a pursuit of some kind of revenge.’

Question 25

Stoll supports Iago as a devil

Answer 25

‘he is a limb of Satan.’

Question 26

Bridges - modern critic

Answer 26

‘a poor and implausible character’.