iago key quotes

‘i know my price, i am worth no worse a place’

a1s1

‘i know my price, i am worth no worse a place’

a1s1

iago has an overblown view of his own talents, so othello choosing cassio over iago enrages him greatly

suggests iago believes he is worthy of the promotion

‘[cassio] must his lieutenant be/and i, god bless the mark, his moorship’s ancient’

a1s1

sarcasm makes bitterness and resentment obvious

‘the moorship’ = conveys iago’s disregard for his superiors

iago is envious for the power and authority of others, wishing it for himself

‘villainous whore’

a5s2

cruelly dismissive of emilia, believing her to be a lost cause and a disgraced ‘fallen woman’, unworthy of his care or attention

‘would she give you as much of her lips/as of her tongue she oft bestows on me/you would have enough’

a3s3

shakespeare demonstrates hypocrisy within male insecurity through iago’s contradictory actions

iago is enraged at the prospect of other men sleeping with his wife, but does not care for emilia at all

‘thou shalt enjoy [desdemona]’

‘silly gentleman’

a1s3

iago promises roderigo his wishes, whilst belittling and intimidating him

‘you know i love you’

a3s3

iago focuses on desdemona’s flaws whilst acting the loyal friend to othello

‘i follow [othello] to serve my turn upon him’

‘heaven is my judge/not i for love and duty/but seeming so for my peculiar end’

a1s1

iago doesn’t fear divine consequence or moral judgement, because he only cares for what he wants

shakespeare portrays a man absorbed in the present and who scorns the life to come in ‘heaven’

conveys iago’s materialism and narcissism

by rejecting ‘love and duty’, iago rejects the two concepts upon which the play and venetian society are built

‘lusty moor’ a2s1

‘villainous whores’ a5s2

shakespeare constructs iago to be a spokesperson for venetian bigotry and prejudice - ideals that were in line with jacobean england’s

opinions of others are reductive and degrading

‘an old black ram / is tupping your white ewe’

a1s1

iago’s language is carefully devised to evoke the biggest reaction from his peers

‘our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are our gardeners […] we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts’ a1s3

iago depicts lust as a stain or blemish in the sanctimony of the human body - monologue closely resembles a sermon

‘not out of absolute lust - through peradventure/i stand accountant for as great a sin’

a2s1

iago’s caveat when he proclaims his love for desdemona

suggests he is repulsed by his own lustful feelings and moral failings

‘preferment goes by letter and affection,/not by the old gradation’

a1s1

iago condemns the corruption and favouritism of ostensibly infallible institutions

iago’s disillusionment with his society and culture, with his actions serving as an allegory for civil unrest and rebellion - gunpowder plot against james i in 1605

‘merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will’

a1s3

iago rejects the concept of love, believing it to be a weakness

‘in following him, i follow but myself’

‘for necessity of present life/i must show out a flag and sign of love’

a1s3

iago has no faith in loyalty or altruism, viewing humans as purely selfish beings

iago believes love is a facade or a pretence

‘i am not what i am’

a1s1

conveys the paradox of human identity, and the truth that humans are limited by the perceptions of theirs

perfectly sums up iago’s character

‘it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets/he’s done my office’

a1s3

referring to his wife as ‘office’ connotes work and duty - links a man’s marriage to his respectability and authority

repetition of first person possessive ‘my’ conveys iago’s sense of ownership of emilia and their union

‘i know not if’t be true/but i, for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety’

a1s3

shakespeare portrays jealousy as a relentless force that cant be reasoned with

‘mere suspicion’ provokes acts of extreme destruction

‘an erring barbarian and a super-subtle venetian’

a1s3

suggests iago finds desdemona’s and othello’s love inherently unnatural, and therefore offensive

‘i told him what i thought, and told no more/that what he found himself was apt and true’

a5s2

iago relinquishes himself of responsibility for othello’s actions - othello agreed with iago’s insinuations and chose to murder his own wife

‘apt’ implies that the perceived truth of desdemona’s disloyalty was dependent on how convenient it was for othello

• shakespeare suggests we reject reality and judge the world by preconceived notions

‘demand me nothing, what you know, you know’

a5s2

iago implicates all of venetian society in his crimes, suggesting that venetian society sowed the seeds for iago’s machinations and encouraged the bigotry and racism he displays

iago is the mirror image of venetian society, not a flaw of it

‘abuse othello’s ear’

‘pour pestilence’

a2s3

imagery depicts iago’s intent to invade othello’s mind, a metaphor for european colonisation

‘poison’ = iago is a corrosive, destructive force that will permanently alter othello’s mind

‘by the nose/as asses are’

a1s3

othello will lose the ability to pursue his own wants

similar dehumanises othello and conveys how he will be exploited in the interests of iago

‘you are pictures out of doors, bells in your parlours, wild-cats in your kitchens, saints in your injuries, devils being offended, players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds’

a2s1

no shred of truth in anything women do

women are portrayed as superficial, emphasising society’s premium on how things appear to be rather than how they really are

biblical allusion to eve as the original fallen woman, and suggests women are capable of manipulating true good and true evil

only place women fulfil their dutiful role as wife is during sex, suggesting women are lustful

‘this is the fruits of whoring’

a5s1

iago suggests that all evil and chaos is the result of the unnatural sexual desires of women

shakespeare presents iago as a preacher, warning the audience

‘in venice they do let god see the pranks/they dare not show their husbands’

a3s3

presents women as inherently two-faced and hypocritical

iago argues that the true threat of female duplicity is that they do not care for their immorality, only their reputations

shakespeare presents men as the intended victim of female duplicity

‘i follow him to serve my turn upon him’

a1s1

foreshadows iago’s betrayal of othello, undermining their friendship

suggests altruistic love is impossible - all favours or loyalties are founded on ulterior, selfish motives

• shakespeare alluding to the system of capitalism - genuine human connection is corrupted by the need to compete for survival

‘serve’ is ironic - connotes loyalty and commitment, shakespeare’s wordplay parallels iago’s own ability to defy expectations