Iago Flashcards
feels undervalued
“I know my price I am worth no less”
Feels should be given Cassio’s job
“Never set a squadron in the field”
“mere prattle without practice”
thinks Cassio was appointed as a result of his social connections
“Tis the curse of service, preferement goes by letter and affection
insecure about his social standing
Unlike the “curled darlings of the nation” Iago “speaks home”
As Cassio tells us “you may relish him more in the soldier than the scholar”
His idiolect
is more suited “to make fools laugh in the alehouse”
Paranoia
believes both Cassio and Othello have slept with his wife
“I do suspect the moor have leaped into my seat”
“I fear Cassio with my night cap too”
Proves he is deranged
he fear not one but 2 men have slept with his wife even when Othello as we know no longer has the sexual energy of a young man
“the young effects in me defunct”
This paranoia clearly tortures him
“the thought whereofdouth like poisonous mineral gnaw my innards”
Mistreatment of Brabantio
besmirching the senator’s daughter
“white ewe” being “tupped by an old black ram”
forces him endure lord descriptions
“making the beest with 2 backs” “covered in a Barbary horse”
Mistreatment of Othello
shows a lack of empathy or conscience towards Othello
“poison his delight” “plague him with flies” “pour pestilence into his ear”
When he sees his manipulation is working “farewell content, farewell tranquil mind” and Othello is “on the rack” Iago gloats over him “work on, my medicine work”
Roderigo
“thus do I make my fool my purse” exploits roderigo and refers to it as “sport”
“time expend with such a snipe but for thought and profit”
Desdemona mistreatment
“do not weep, do not weep, alas the day” while having already manipulated Othello to “strangle her in her bed”
He is amoral and malicious
considers virtue to be a “fig”
no value for human life, describes Cassio’s murder “knocking his brains out”
At the end of the play when caught doesn’t even give a reason for his maliciousness “From this time forth I never will speak a word”
Opportunist and improviser
Does not craft a master plan , rather makes things up as he goes “knavery’s plain face is never seen, till us’d
Handkerchief
Great luck in obtaining the handkerchief. Uses this to incriminate Cassio
“trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ”
Cassio’s arrival when Othello is passed out
Tells Cassio to “withdraw yourself a little while” “I would on great occasion speak to you” before convincing Othello to eavesdrop on their conversation. The makes Cassio brag about his relationship with Bianca
“For I will make him tell the tale anew, where, how, how oft, how long ago and when heath , and is again to cope your wife”
Choreographs a meeting between Cassio and Desdemona
advises Cassio “to confess yourself freely to” Desdemona and promises to “Draw the moor out of the way”
the does the exact opposite and brings the moor to the place and uses insinuation to manipulate Othello
Iago as an actor
people continually refer to him as honest “honest Iago”
“O that’s an honest fellow”
Janus-faced “I am not what I am”
“I must show out a flag and sign of love which is indeed but sign”
“early in the play he says he was tempted “nine or ten time to have yerk’d” Brabantio “under the ribs”for defaming his general
Manipulation of Cassio
Casual temptation = “but one cup” claiming that it is a “night of revels”
Feigned jocularity = Iago rouses the by a ocnvival sing-song “and let me the cannikin clink, clink
Sporting rivalry = suggest that all English men are “most potent in potting”
drags him down to his level by turning him to a “beast”
Insinuation
“HA,I like not that”
stealing away “guilty-like”
Plays on insecurities
“she did deceive her father marrying you”
“In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks they dare not show their husbands”
play on vulnerability as an outsider
Bare faced lies
“he would gripe and wring my hand”
“then laid his leg over my thigh”
lurid fiction that Cassio had groped him in his sleep thinking of Desdemona
Paralipsis
“I had rather this tongue cut from my mouth than it should do offence to Michael Cassio
