Iago's villainy Flashcards
poison his delight,/Proclaim him in the streets, incense her kinsmen
Iago 1.1 - demonstrates that Iago wishes to publicly humiliate Brabantio for Desdemona’s marriage to Othello and disgrace Othello for such a marriage without Brabantio’s agreement
though he in a fertile climate dwell,/Plague him with flies!
Iago 1.1 - his desire to see Othello hurt and fallen and viewed by Venetian society as an outsider
‘Thou art a villain!’ ‘You are a senator!’
Brabantio/Iago 1.1 - in this short exchange, Iago rather tellingly does not dismiss the label of a villain
Our bodies are gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners … we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts
Iago 1.3 - through the conceit of a garden, Shakespeare suggests that Iago believes that love is something that one can control, like a gardener can control a garden, as we can control our bodies
I take this, that you call love, to be a sect or scion
It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will
Iago 1.3 - sees Roderigo’s love as lust, as he cannot see a difference, and that both of these can be controlled
Put money in they purse (x5)
fill they purse with money
make all the money thou canst
go, make money
Iago 1.3 - the repetition of this line demonstrates how Iago is able to easily manipulate and coerce Roderigo
I’ll sell all my land
Roderigo 1.3 - Iago is so persuasive and Machiavellian that he has convinced Roderigo to sell everything to get his money (and it worked!)
I hate the Moor/And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets/He’s done my office
Iago 1.3 - here, Iago attempts to justify his Machiavellian villainy with a rumour that Othello has had sex with Emilia
let me see now,/To get his place, and to plume up my will/In double knavery. How? How?
Iago 1.3 - Iago’s plan starts to hatch, demonstrating his cunning, villainous nature
[Cassio] hath a person and a smooth dispose/To be suspected, framed to make women false
Iago 1.3 - Cassio’s personality, courtesy and appearance are so stellar that women fall for him easily and naturally (easy to make Othello believe he is having an affair with Desdemona)
Hell and night/Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light
Iago 1.3 - in this final rhyming couplet, Iago uses the binary opposition of ‘night’ and ‘light’ to demonstrate the villainy of his plan and the damage that it will cause, the demonic imagery highlight his villainous nature as he exclaims that his plan will be put in play
