Alvin Tse

Teacher: Ms. Cinder Merritt (ENG2D)

How does Shakespeare use linguistic and literary techniques to develop the character of Iago?

Word Count: 1499

Rarely is the villain given more of a spotlight than the main protagonist of a story. Shakespeare's

memorable Iago, the mastermind behind the Tragedy of Othello is one of the few exceptions. From the

very start of the play, Iago is portrayed as a highly complex, convicted, sophisticated and

multidimensional character. One of the scenes that best exemplifies Iago’s devious qualities is act V,

scene 1, lines 1-73 of the play, where he stages an attack on Cassio as part of his manipulation plan.

When this backfires, he stabs comrade Roderigo. Throughout the scene, Shakespeare utilises an array of

literary features to highlight Iago’s contrasting behaviour in public and private, thereby revealing him to

be a manipulative, duplicitous and self-serving character.

Iago’s words portray him as a manipulative character through repetition and his speech patterns.

Iago is talented at perceiving weakness, and therefore alters his speech patterns to disarm his comrades of

any doubt. In the beginning of the scene, Iago gives Roderigo orders and encourages him to follow to

Iago’s plan, telling him to “Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home./Quick. quick! Fear nothing; I’ll

be at thy elbow.” (V.i.2-3). These are all imperative sentences; they are a repeated series of commands

and promises to Roderigo, which give him an obligation to follow through without fearing that Iago has

other intentions. Iago further allows Roderigo to relate to him by using the words that Roderigo uses; for

example, when Roderigo asks Iago to “Be near at hand; [he] may miscarry in’t” (V.i.6), Iago reassures

with “Here, at thy hand. Be bold, and take thy stand” (V.i.7). With Iago’s repetition of the word “hand”

we can see that Iago is disarming Roderigo - making Roderigo relinquish his free will to Iago, seeing as

he only has to follow orders. Iago also disarms Cassio from any suspicion by repeating the words he

himself uses, such as “murder” (V.i.27/35), “villains” (V.i.54), and later, “light” (V.i.30), of which Iago

also echoes at the end. This allows Cassio to relate himself to a genuine, heroic Iago when this could not

be further from the truth. The use of the same wording also further contributes to dramatic irony, and its

chilling effect is not lost on the audience. Iago also uses repetition in another instance to manipulate

Cassio and betray Roderigo later in the scene. When Desdemona’s cousins Gratiano and Lodovico arrive

at the scene after Cassio is wounded, Iago pretends to help Cassio and antagonize Roderigo in an attempt

to stay on good terms with Desdemona so he can carry on with his manipulation, asking “what villains

have done this?” (V.i.56). Soon, Iago repeats the word “villains” again in an exclamation, “O treacherous

villains” (V.i.58), effectively apostrophising the word as he does so. Finally, prior to stabbing Roderigo,

Iago once again exclaims “O murderous slave! O villain!” (V.i.61). This repetition of the word “villain”

elevates the word and brings it to the audience, and highlights how manipulative Iago is - he deceives all

other characters on stage that Roderigo is the villain, when he is the true mastermind behind Cassio’s

stabbing. Iago’s ability to skillfully adapt himself to the linguistic patterns of those he interacts with, as

well as the ease with which he adopts the appropriate emotions to his interactions in different situations

portray him as a character who is sinister and ruthlessly manipulative.

The juxtaposition between Iago’s admirable persona and his vindictive nature coupled with his use

of repetition of violent words allows Iago’s duplicity to shine through the scene. First of all, we can see

how Iago is thought of from descriptions of him from other characters. When Othello hears Cassio’s

painful cry, he exclaims “‘Tis he. O brave Iago, honest and just,/That hast such noble sense of thy friend’s

wrong!” (V.i.31-32). Othello’s apostrophisation of Iago with words such as “brave”, “honest”, “just” and

“noble” show the audience exactly what Iago has created his persona to be in front of his fellow

characters. This persona shows that Iago has long been so manipulative that other characters in the play

seem to trust him more than anyone else. However, in his soliloquy, Iago openly states about Cassio that

“He hath a daily beauty in his life/That makes me ugly” (V.i.19-20). This outspokenness reveals Iago’s

true personality, which could not be further from the persona that he has established; he cannot tolerate

anybody who knows or achieves more than he does, wields more power, or in any way questions his

superiority - he cannot tolerate beauty in anyone but himself, and rages with envy at the sight of anyone

who is, in any way, faring better than he. While it is evident that Iago shows contempt here for Roderigo,

this quote shows that the real contempt that Iago pertains is for himself, to the point where he cannot

tolerate his inferiority and, as he cannot find any flaws in Cassio that may console him, makes him

bitterly resentful. Iago’s ugly interior can also be shown in his choice of diction. In Iago’s acting, Iago

calls Cassio “brother” (V.i.72), which increases the connection between Iago and the other characters on

stage. However, when in soliloquy, Iago is rather violent, stating that “No, [Cassio] must die” (V.i.22)

and also using other rather violent words such as “kill” and “bobbed”. These words illuminate Iago’s

brutal thoughts and highlight his deceit, and create foreshadowing for what is to happen. This contrast

between Iago’s outspokenness in his soliloquy to his pleasant pretence in his acting illuminates his

duplicitous nature. Without these lines, we can only see Iago as a passionless villain that moves from

crime to crime, so these intentions add another dimension to his vindictiveness.

Finally, Iago's contemptuous attitude towards others and self-serving nature are revealed through

the use of caesuras and the shift in pronouns, a indicator of his shift in thoughts. In his soliloquy

regarding Cassio and Roderigo’s survival in the short quarrel, Iago mentions using a caesura that

“[Roderigo] grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio” (V.i.12), drawing our attention to the antecedent

statement, “he grows angry”. With the word “grows”, Iago treats Roderigo as inferior - this shows Iago as

a very condescending character, even to his comrades. He exemplifies this arrogance with a preceding

metaphor where Iago relates using Roderigo to “rubbing this young quat almost to the sense” (V.i.11),

setting a tone that implies that Iago is disgusted at Roderigo, and looks at him as more of a nuisance than

he does a friend. Another way Shakespeare highlights Iago’s manipulative ways is with the pronouns he

uses. During Iago’s interaction with Roderigo at the start of the scene, Iago uses inclusive pronouns such

as “it makes us or it mars us” (V.i.4), portraying that Iago is attempting to be supportive, and being

solidary about his approach to killing Cassio. When Roderigo is gone and Iago moves into soliloquy,

however, Iago starts using rather selfish terms such as “my” and “I”, as shown most evidently where he

states that “each do kill the other/Every way makes [his] gain. [...]” (V.i.13-14). This juxtaposes against

where Iago talks with solidarity and togetherness with Roderigo in the first scene, showing that Iago is a

man unafraid of betrayal and exploitation - he is unafraid to domineer Roderigo openly in his attack,

showing that the only person Iago knows how to care for is himself. Iago’s self-serving nature is further

established by his remorselessness when he mentions that “Live Roderigo,/He calls me to a restitution

large/Of gold and jewels that I bobbed from him/As gifts to Desdemona” (V.i.14-17). When Iago

mentions all these actions that are basically a euphemism of his theft, Iago uses his speech to prove that

he does not care about Roderigo’s feelings. He prioritises the fact that he now has “bobbed” the gold and

jewels, without any mention that these were heartfelt gifts from Roderigo to Desdemona. The euphemism

and prioritisation shows how highly Iago puts himself compared to Roderigo, again emphasising his

contempt. From the caesuras Iago uses that make him unapologetically arrogant and condescending, to

the contrast between the pronouns he uses in public and private, and the remorselessness and euphemism

that he uses during his confession that he has “bobbed” gifts from Roderigo, it is made clear that Iago is a

self-serving man.

In Othello, Shakespeare has created one of the most multidimensional and complex villains in

literary history. Iago possesses the intellect to see through his comrades’ uncertainties and changes his

speech patterns accordingly, giving him a heavily manipulative nature. He also possesses the ability to

connive his own actions, totally disregarding other’s feelings on the way, which highlights him as a

duplicitous and self-serving person. Iago is a prime example of how one, no matter how intellectual or

eloquent, can turn so bitter and resenting when he hides his true character from everyone else.