Psychological contrasts between Othello and Iago in Shakespeare's tragedy

¶ … Iago and Othello are taken from the play Othello penned by Shakespeare, a master at depicting psychological and personality nuances among characters. Othello is the same sort of a play that personifies vengeance more than any other emotion.

There are some fundamental differences between the character profiles of Iago and those of Othello that shall be discussed here. The plot of the play revolves around Othello who is the protagonist in this tale, sharing his limelight with Iago, who has more lines and wrecks more havoc than any other villain in Shakespeare's characters. (Rosenberg)

Othello is the moor who is in love with Desdemona, while Iago is his faithful soldier, who has been as Othello's side for a long time, but was superseded by Cassio, Othello's subsequent choice of an admiral for himself. While this might not have been the only reason of Iago's jealousy, it does add to the reason why he behaves the way in which he was portrayed to behave. (Stone)

Othello

Othello is a moor, who is a representation of what is noble and good in men. He is personified as a dark noble leader who loves the naive Desdemona, a fair lady whom he thinks he doesn't deserve. It is partially this feeling of insecurity that fuels his rage against his innocent wife and leads him to believe that she was cheating on him with Cassio.

Othello, is a character depicted by Shakespeare as being naive and unreflecting, who easily gets incited by Iago and falls prey to Iago's vengeance without a cause. In fact critics have argued that Shakespeare was constrained by the stereotypes and ethnic discrimination that was a norm at the time in an in-depth portrayal of a dark man. (Stone)

Othello is a contradiction of his own noble values which he abandons as soon as Iago tells him that Desdemona is cheating on him.

Othello, at the core of his being is an uncharacteristically trusting and unsuspicious moor, who has complete trust in Iago's intent for giving counsel to him. Moreover, as Othello is insecure about his relationship with Desdemona, he, in his naivety is easily led asunder by Iago. All Iago has to do is to whisper in Othello's ear and stage a simple scene to have Othello going after his wife to kill her.

Once Othello does kill her, his temporary rage subsides and with the help of Emilia he sees the wrong of his ways. But by the time it is too late for him to remedy his fallacy.

In a way Othello also describes repentance when the mistakes that have been done cannot be corrected and represents repentance, which Othello is unable to seek, and damage he is unable to repair. (Witzel)

Annotated Bibliography

Rosenberg, Marvin. The masks of Othello: the search for the identity of Othello, Iago, and Desdemona by three centuries of actors and critics . Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1992 .

The book is an avid source on how the three main characters in Othello are portrayed by the playwright. These three characters describe human nature, at its best in terms of Desdemona, an innocent girl, Othello a clear hearted man but who suffers from Jealousy and Iago who is wickedness personified. The book has helped analyze the characters of Iago and Othello from various perspectives.

Stone, Alan. Boston Review: Othello. 1996. 22 November 2011 < http://bostonreview.net/BR21.2/Stone.html>.

This review speaks of Iago in how it has been played out be various actors each of whom lent their own understanding of the character in its portrayal. This was helpful as actors who play out the character feel it in its heat and therefore are in a better position to understand the character's psyche.

Witzel, Pia. Multiple Iago - The Character and Motives of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello . Norderstedt: GRIN VerlaG, 2008 .

This book too tries to understand Iago's character who incite Othello so that Othello hmself rins his own life, and Iago does not even have to lift a finger in order to get what he wants. Only through the power of his words, he is able to have Desdemona dead. Such is the strength of his vileness.