¶ … Iago hates Othello so much? Obviously, he's bitter at being passed over for a promotion by Othello, but there's more to it than that…why is Iago so angry?

Iago is bitter about the fact that he was not promoted by a black African, a man whom he believes should be his social inferior and is his racial inferior. This can be seen when Iago makes a racist comment to alert Brabatino about the fact that Desdemona is eloping with Othello: "an old black ram / Is topping your white ewe" (I.1). Not only does Othello pass him over for the position of lieutenant, but he also gives it to a more 'upper class' individual Michael Cassio, who is younger and less experienced, but more refined than Iago.

Iago also seems like a man who is looking for evil in the world. He mistreats his wife and calls her a shrew without cause, even when she says nothing: "She puts her tongue a little in her heart, / And chides with thinking." (2.1). He looks for the worst in people and always finds it.

Informal Journal

What is it about Othello that makes him an easy target? That is, he appears to be a tough soldier…so why, then, doesn't he just tell Iago to piss off, pardon the French, when Iago starts talking about Desdemona being unfaithful?

Othello is a black man in a racist society, who must constantly prove his worth, thus he has a strong but fragile sense of personal honor. As he is a career military man he has little experience with women as people, and is more apt to trust the word of a fellow soldier like Iago. He is also a cultural alien in Venetian society. This makes him more likely to believe Iago's comments about Venetian women's untrustworthiness. He is older than Desdemona, and does not know her very well, perhaps less well than Iago. He has internalized many of the culture's stereotypes about blackness being inferior to whiteness. Desdemona comes from a better social background, which also makes him insecure.