lago could begin this soliloquy by laughing, to mock the
“fool” (Roderigo). This is the first time that lago shows contempt for his
supposed friend. In the play, he uses Roderigo as a way of getting money, a
confidence trick which is a coincidental benefit of his plot against Othello.
Yet Roderigo is the hardest for lago to control in the play. For
instance, he very nearly makes himself known to Desdemona, in order to get back
the jewels that he thinks lago has passed on. The “fool" may do a
foolish thing that is not part of lago’s plan, and needs constant encouragement
to assuage his doubts. Since Roderigo is not a sensible man, it becomes, in a
sense, more dangerous for Iago to use him. lago should pause, however, before
mentioning his hatred of Othello, to change his tone of voice from one of
mocking to one of loathing. Here, the ensign accuses Othello of sleeping with
his wife, Emilia, and it is a charge that he repeats later in the play: ”For
that I do suspect the lusty Moor / Hath leaped into my seat,” (2.1.276-277). In
her article, J. G. writes that Iago succeeds so well because he knows a
lot about jealousy (1), he knows how best to goad Othello. Unlike the Moor
later, lago requires no proofs, not even slight ones (such as the handkerchief)
to plot his revenge. One cannot be sure though, if this story of his cuckolding
is true. The actor should return to the mocking tone however, when describing
Cassio as “a proper
(1) Lieutenancy, Standing in, and Othello by Julia
Genster p.801.
2
man”, as someone who attracts women, a kind of
dandy. He gives the impression that he is a man who holds grudges long, one who
does not immediately seek just retribution for his grievances. No, lago is a
man who bides his time, carefully planning his revenge, waiting for the perfect
moment. He gets that moment with the coincidence of the marriage of Othello and
Desdemona, and the appointment of Cassio in his place of lieutenant. So, in
performance, line 376 could be spoken slowly, to reveal lago’s method of
thinking, the unravelling of the plot in his own mind. His voice should rise
with his realisation, that he could “abuse Othello’s ear”: a metaphor that John
Wall makes much of (2). More of that later. It could also be that Iago is
jealous of Cassio’s sexual attractiveness. He states that Othello would be
easily led, again in a mocking tone. Indeed, because he has “a free and open
nature,” he may be better tricked than Roderigo. For the last two lines, a more
threatening tone could be adopted by the actor. John Wall sees this as a kind
of dreadful Annunciation (3). Instead of divine Gabriel, there is hellish lago,
desiring to impregnate Othello with evil, instead of good. lago may be even
Lucifer himself, the light-bearer, as he is so often in the play, to “bring
this monstrous birth to the world’s light.”
It cannot be said that lago is a particularly original slanderer. Indeed,
as Emilia says, lago himself was persuaded that Othello had cuckolded him
(4.2.144—146). However he cannot have confronted Othello about it, or else they
would never have been friends. Perhaps lago had feared a direct accusation, for
much is made of Othello’s great
(2) The Metaphor of the Ear in Othello by John N.Wall.
(3) John Wall p.366
3
strength as a warrior. Or it may be that, as an ambitious
man, he cannot afford an argument with his superior; it being more to his
advantage to ‘line his coat’ (1.1.53). Certainly, he did accuse Emilia, which
is not surprising, given that she willingly admits that she would betray his
bed. lago even goes as far as to say “I fear Cassio with my night-cap too”
(2.1.288). His prime motive would appear to be jealousy.
Yet it does not ring quite true that both men have slept with Emilia,
despite the fact that Cassio uses Bianco fill up his sexual appetite. It may be
that Iago is an ultra-conservative, a man who likes everybody to be in their
proper place. As Genster notes, when lago breaks up the fight between
Cassio and Montano, he runs through a whole list of titles: ”Hold ho,
lieutenant, sir; Montano, gentlemen,/Have you forgot all place of sense and
duty?/Hold, the general speaks to you” (2.3.157—159). He resents the fact that
Cassio has usurped his place, which would have been his, under the old way of
promotion through the ranks. Neither Othello nor Cassio are Venetians, although
this was not itself unusual in the Venetian army, it still helps to feed Iago’s
prejudices. He also thinks that Desdemona, as a white Venetian was wrong to go
behind her father’s back, to marry “what she feared to look on” (1.3.98).
lago’s motivations express themselves in the way he goes about his
deadly task. First of all, he makes Othello lose his image and honour as a
warrior, that which made him magnificent in the first place - “Farewell the
plumed troops, and the big wars/That makes ambition virtue” (3.3.350—351). He
has already told Cassio that Desdemona is
4
now the general. lago wants Othello to become impotent,
to feel all the jealousy that he has felt, and more besides. Genster notes that
it was the lieutenant’s function to resolve disputes between the men: ”Cassio
is thus in the unhappy position of having lost the office from which he might
argue for his own reinstatement” (4). It is Desdemona who actually does this;
ironically, by forcing Cassio’s
cashiering, lago has made Desdemona the lieutenant. By the fourth act,
lago finally forces Othello to give him the lieutenancy. That he has completely
gained that office is revealed by something Desdemona says: ”What shall I do to
win my lord again?/Good friend, go to him” (4.2.148—149). Therefore, he has
been made to act the lieutenant, to resolve the dispute between his master and
mistress. This, when all the time Iago’s “slanders... work in a fashion which
mirrors the way Othello’s stories catch and transform Desdemona” (5).
That lago may have been plotting for a long time for his revenge, is
shown by the incident with the handkerchief. As Emilia says:”My wayward husband
hath a hundred times/Wooed to steal it” (3.3.294—5). She may have been
exaggerating, but it does suggest that events take longer to occur, than they
would seem to through a performance. lago is fortunate to have his wife as
servant to Desdemona, for she is very much like him, though not quite as
corrupt. However, she does steal the handkerchief by not returning it to
her mistress, and one wonders why she does not admit this fact to
Desdemona earlier. It may be that Emilia fears losing her place, if she
admitted to theft. She certainly knows that Othello is made angry by the loss
of it, for she is present
(4) Julia Genster p.796
(5) Slander and Skepticism in Othello by K.Gross p.844
5
throughout the scene when he demands it. The best
explanation is, however, that Emilia does not think the handkerchief important.
lago himself confirms this by saying: ”Trifles light as air/Are to the jealous
confirmations strong/As proofs of holy writ” (3.3.323—325). It is but a trifle,
and only becomes charged with symbolic meaning by the lies lago tells about it.
Emilia discovers the truth too late, and becomes yet another of her husband’s
victims, such as Roderigo, in his attempt to suppress the truth at the
end. If Iago was so in love with his wife, he would not have killed her.
The villain’s motivations are not all that simple however. There is more
than a hint of homosexuality in his description of Cassio’s dream - “then laid
his leg/Over my thigh, and sighed, and kissed” (3.3.425-426). Indeed, the scene
in which lago persuades Othello that his wife is false, has been called the
seduction scene, in which lago goes through a perverted marriage vow
(3.3.464-469). Their relationship then becomes “a perversion, or inversion, of
the relationship between Othello and Desdemona” (6). If lago really did love
Othello, then that would really be a surprising revelation, and one that the
text certainly allows. Ultimately though, lago is a corrupt authoritarian, one
who believes that everybody belongs to their ‘proper’ place. It would have been
interesting to see what kind of a parent he would have made. In a way, he does
become one, by impregnating Othello; the result being the ‘monstrous birth’ of
Othello’s jealousy, and all that tragically follows.
(6) John Wall p.361
6
Bibliography
Lieutenancy, Standing in, and Othello by Julia Genster,
ELH Vol.57 no. 4 Winter (1990).
Slander and Skepticism in Othello by Kenneth Gross, ELH Vol.56
no.4 Winter (1989).
Shakespeare’s Aural Art: The Metaphor of the Ear in
Othello by John N.Wall. Shakespeare Quarterly Vol.30 No.1 Winter 1979.
Othello New Cambridge Shakespeare, edited by Norman
Sanders (1989).
