Iago's Character and Villainy in Shakespeare's Othello

Introduction: Iago as Shakespeare's Most Frightening Villain

Iago could be one of Shakespeare's most evil and frightening villains. He has no remorse and is totally consumed with his own hatred of Othello. That hatred colors everything he does in the play and has clearly turned him into a bitter and spiteful man. In his speech to Roderigo in Act One, Scene Three of the play, he reveals quite a bit about his own personality and psychology. It is clear he is not a kindly, romantic, or loving man — a man who kills his own wife is none of these things. He is a tortured character who displays many different and unhealthy psychological traits. He ruins the lives of those around him, and the play clearly shows he is a jealous, unhappy, and scheming man who cannot be happy — and so decides no one else can be happy, either. He is central to the play because he causes so much death and unhappiness. It is clear his garden needs to be tended for a long, long time to make it healthy.

In his speech to Roderigo, Iago says, "our bodies are gardens" (Shakespeare 1.3.315), which at first seems a bit romantic and earthy. He then compares the garden's fruitfulness with our own wills. This comparison makes some sense — we are responsible for our own wills and our own bodies, and therefore we are responsible for what "grows" there — but he is really revealing his cynicism and negative outlook on human nature. He is clearly a pessimist when he says, "the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions" (Shakespeare 1.3.322). He feels that human beings are nothing more than base creatures, led entirely by their emotions and their sexuality.

The Garden Metaphor and Iago's Cynical Worldview

This cynical view of humanity permeates every action Iago takes throughout the play. Rather than seeing human will as something noble or redemptive, he sees it as something easily manipulated and inherently corrupt. The garden metaphor, rather than being a symbol of growth and cultivation, becomes in Iago's hands an image of neglect, weeds, and base instinct. His worldview is one in which no one is truly virtuous — they are simply waiting to be exposed.

Iago is made even more sinister by the fact that he schemes against his own leader, who is supposed to be his friend and commander. It is clear that he is angry about being passed over for promotion, but if Othello had understood even a little about this man's true character, it becomes clear why he would pass him over. Iago is a man who allows his emotions and hatred to rule him — exactly the kind of man a leader would not want behind him in battle.

Jealousy, Scheming, and the Betrayal of Othello

In turn, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is unfaithful to him. One reason Iago succeeds in this is his cynical and unemotional nature. Perhaps he is jealous that two people can love each other so deeply. He says, "but we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts; whereof I take this that you call love to be a sect or scion" (Shakespeare 1.3.323–324). In saying this, he looks at love with scorn, as something only a fool would indulge in. In his garden, love is merely a leaf or a division of a plant — something that splits a person in two and ruins their purpose. He is not only cynical; he is deeply unhappy, and this unhappiness may be one reason he is so determined to ruin the people around him. Clearly, his garden is full of weeds, and he has not tended it carefully.