I ago has been described in Othello as an opportunist who seems to care less about other people’s fillings. He is so much full of himself that he is willing to do anything just to fulfill and satisfy his interests. He seems to be unsatisfied about his life and always thinks someone is responsible for his predicament. In the first instance, we encounter, he feels that Cassio, who is Othello’s attendant did not deserve the position. He is determined to claim it and this is not just by being a loyal friend to Othello but using his household to fulfill his selfish interests. In the process of wanting to satisfy his greed, he destroys a family and ends up destroying himself (Shakespeare 33).
Even though Iago is married, he is not satisfied with the fact that he has a loving and caring wife. He still feels that Desdemona was meant to be his wife and hence aims at separating her with Othello with the hope that he will have an upper hand. He is so insensitive to the fact that his actions may end up destroying even his own interests. To make matters even worse, we see him use his innocent wife to set up his plans. He makes his wife to carry out an action that finally leads to the death of a love relationship as well as an innocent person. It was with much regret that Emilia realized that he was used wrongly and hence confessing what had transpired. Even though it was too late, Iago became a victim of his own schemes.
Iago has also been presented as a pretender who cannot be trusted. He pretends to be a true friend to Othello and his biggest advisor and confidant. He blinds Othello to think that he is a loyal friend when in the real sense; he is burning with jealousy against him. He plots out everything to destroy Othello and his family with the hope that he will gain advantage. He has no interest in Othello or even his close friends and only thinks of how he will gain control over them. He manages to deceive Othello who killed his wife at his expense as well as Cassio (Shakespeare 45). As if that was not enough, he puts his wife in trouble by advising her to steal Desdemona handkerchief. All this was for breaking the trust that existed between Othello and his wife. He did not even care that his own wife Emilia could be caught and pushes him into committing the offense.
Even though Iago claimed to have been in love with Desdemona, we realize that he did not mean it at all. He was moved with jealousy as her relationship with Othello flourished. He was not even interested in having Desdemona as a wife and only wanted to see their relationship destroyed. This was revealed when he convinced Othello that his wife was cheating on him. We would have expected him to protect Desdemona by not accusing her of infidelity. After Desdemona was killed by Othello, Iago did not display in form of remorse, he was in fact happy that the love relationship was over. After all the trouble he had put his wife into, he was not even willing to protect her and left her for distraction. We may have though that Iago was interested in Desdemona, but he felt nothing after her death. Just when we thought he was also interested in taking up Cassio’s position, we realize that he only had hatred for Othello and his family. He gained nothing except the death of the people who loved and cared for him.
Works cited
Shakespeare, William. Othello. London: EDCON Publishing Group, 2002.
