Jeannie Tanner

How does Shakespeare establish Iago as a Tragic Villain in Othello?

Within this Shakespearean tragedy, Iago is undoubtedly the villain acting as a foil to our
tragic hero Othello. However, whether Iago fulfils this role is debateable. In this essay I
will be analysing Iago’s establishment as a character and evaluating whether he fits the
mould of a tragic villain, or someone more Machiavellian.
The definition of a tragic villain is a character, usually an antagonist that does not truly
intend to be a villain – they are perhaps misled, or not entirely in control of their
feelings/actions and may pursue morally ambiguous logic. Someone Machiavellian is
typically sneaky, cunning, and lacking a moral code; characteristics which, arguably, are
engrained in a person’s character – ie, they have control over their own choices and
actions. It is a personality trait that sees a person so focused on their own interests they
will manipulate, deceive and exploit others to achieve their goals. Thus, I feel that Iago’s
character and actions, examples of which can be found below, are far too calculated and
effective to categorise him simply as a tragic villain.

To pick apart this definition, we must first evaluate whether Iago is driven or in fact
rather motiveless. I believe it is too simplistic to say that Iago is simply lacking any sort of
motive, especially since he is presented as such a confident character – one of Iago’s first
lines in Act 1 Scene 1 (“Despise me/ If I do not.”) is a challenging statement with the use
of an imperative. Combined with the use of personal pronouns “me” and “I”, Iago
successfully creates the impression of self-assurance. To believe that he is motiveless,
and that his actions are performed simply due to his own love of evil could be supported
by the fact that his aim is constantly changing – his first motive being to seek revenge on
Cassio, and then seducing Desdemona to name a few – except for the fact that all of
these smaller motivations are linked by his overriding aim to knock Othello from his
position of power and step in himself – something which fuels him and is arguably
responsible for his driven nature within the play. His conflict with status and power is
shown further when he ominously indicates towards his schemes involving the
usurpation of Othello’s position, telling Roderigo “I follow him to serve my turn upon
him. We cannot all be masters, nor all masters can be truly followed,” and follows this
with “Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.” Both quotes display Iago’s arrogance as a
character, but also the blatant lack of respect shown by him towards Othello – “serving
my turn upon him” hints at turning the tables upon him and explores the idea that he is
following Othello not out of service, but out of revenge. Many of Shakespeare’s political
influence came from satires, which usually involved a world where the problems of
society were projected onto his characters –Iago’s deceptive nature and ‘backstabbing’
could depict him as a political figure in the real world. This is an interesting complexity
within his character, as in some ways Iago is quite suspicious of power and politics. For
instance, when he responds to Brabantio after being insulted, calling him a “senator”,
his idea of politicians as a corrupting influence and a distrust of politics in general
emerges.
Niccolo Machiavelli’s book ‘The Prince’ outlines how a monarch should gain control by
deceiving his opponent as an ally – an idea Iago emulates during his quest for power.
This could be seen as something Iago has decided to interpret, shown through the
Jeannie Tanner

infamous quote “I am not what I am.” This ambiguous statement demonstrates how
changeable Iago is as a character, almost seeing himself as an actor or character within a
play rather than somebody embedded in reality. This biblical reference (“I am that I am”)
elevates Iago’s self-description to that of the great deceiver, the antithesis of God – an
admittance, perhaps, of his more devious nature. Within his works, Shakespeare
employs an element of the implausible to establish a sense of horror and powerlessness
in the audience. However, Iago is by far his most ingenious tragic device because unlike
the supernatural, Iago’s actions are very easily assimilated into the logic of human
behaviour – to some extent, we as an audience can understand the motivation behind
him wanting to seek revenge on Othello for promoting Cassio over him, as it is an idea
we can easily relate to in our everyday lives.

In addition, I believe that one of the key factors of Iago’s establishment as a villain is his
racism used against Othello. This racism could potentially stem from jealousy – Iago is a
character certainly propelled by feelings of loathing and frustration - he can’t tolerate
the sight of those who have happiness and status – or just inherent evil. Iago makes
frequent racist remarks regarding Othello within act 1 scene 1, calling him an “old black
ram”; the imagery of the ram connoting the devil, identifying Othello as something
dangerous and fear-instilling. Furthermore, the image of him “tupping” Desdemona, the
“white ewe” gives the notion that he may be corrupting the pure, innocent, virtuous
daughter of Brabantio.

To conclude, I would argue that Iago is, to an extent, not very well established as a tragic
villain, as he is presented as ambitious, manipulative and instinctively evil – a far cry
from the aloof, unknowing antagonist of the tragic villain.