What motives inspired Iago to plot revenge
against Othello?
From
the start of Shakespeare's Othello, Iago makes it very clear
that he holds no love for the title character. In his opening argument with
Roderigo, Iago says that his anger stems from the fact that Othello unfairly
passes him over for promotion and makes Michael Cassio his lieutenant, even though
Cassio, unlike Iago, has no military field experience.
Although
this is a good reason to be angry with Othello, Iago later reveals to the
audience what he doesn't reveal to Roderigo. In a soliloquy at the end of Act
I, Scene 3, Iago divulges perhaps the true nature of his hatred toward Othello:
"I hate the Moor…”
“He has done my office…”
It
appears that there are rumors that Othello has slept with Iago's wife, Emilia.
Here, Iago says to himself, when no other characters are able to hear, that he
doesn't care whether the rumors are true; he's going to proceed as if they are
indubitably true.
Throughout
the play, Iago's soliloquies disclose to the audience what he does not reveal
to the other characters as his plans take shape. At the end of Act II, Scene 1,
he reiterates the real motivation behind his plots against Othello:
“I do suspect the lusty Moor…”
But, underlying all of Iago's
excuses and justifications is a deep-seated racism, which is apparent just by
looking at how he refers to Othello. When he isn't, in private, calling Othello
a "Barbary horse," an "old black ram," or an "erring
barbarian," he usually refers to him in public simply as "the
Moor," identifying Othello not as an individual or even by his rank, but
by his race. In today's terms, this would be like calling someone "the
Jew" or "the Arab" all the time.
Such
blatant racism wouldn't have been as shocking or disturbing to Shakespeare's
audience, but modern performances of this great tragedy cannot avoid calling
attention to the implications of Iago's prejudice.
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