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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help
In II.ii.335, Iago says, "And what's he then that says I play the villain,
When this advice is free i give, and honest,
Probal to thinking, and indeed the course
To win the Moor again?"He doesn't speak about using this to make Othello jealous until later
in the soliloquy. So did he really give the advice freely, and the
plan to use it against him didn't come until later?
The passage also could imply that he doesn't like being the villian.
In V.i. 18, he says:
"If Cassio do remain,
He hath a daily beauty in his life
That makes me ugly..."
It's almost like he can't stand to look at himself in the face of
someone else's virtuousness.
And then he goes on to say "No, he must die. Be't so." It sounds like
he's trying to convince himself. And when Cassio does enter, Iago
only stabs him in the leg. Is this because there was a struggle, or
because he doesn't really want to kill him?Ok, am I way off here? Is Iago truly the villian, or is there some
redemptive quality in him?Posted by Smurfette on April 15, 1997 at 21:40:47
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 4.2.97: Top | Help