Evil and Immoral Characters in The Play "Othello" by William Shakespeare

“An evil person may be considered as somebody who condones bad or morally wrong activities that cause ruin, injury, misfortune or destruction” Brandon Johnson writes in. In the play “Othello” by William Shakespeare the character of Iago can be considered evil and immoral. Iago is a two faced cynical that only wants revenge and does not care about who he uses and how he uses them. “Iago embodies evil through his own words” Tiffany Solomon writes in the article “Iago’s Evil Deeds”. Even though Iago is supposed to be Othello’s first ensign he announces, “I follow him to serve my turn upon him”, and goes even further against his trusted officer to say, “In following him, I follow but myself”. This quote shows that Iago is evil because even though he is supposed to protect and serve his superior officer, Othello, he has no goal of actually helping him, but he instead works under Othello to hurt him”.

Also on line 323 Iago says “I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad, that “twixt my sheets” Has done my office. I know not if it be true, But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety”. Iago says he doesn’t exactly know if the rumors true, but he’s decided to go ahead and ruin Othello’s life anyway. Iago has shown through his own words that he plans to use evil and deception to exploit Othello’s character. He uses any mediums possible to mastermind his plan. “Iago’s form of predation is singularly psychopathic in his choice of victim. His victims are his fellow human beings, his reasons are multiple and contradictory” explains Gemma Miller in the text “Iago and Psychopathy: A Textual and Performance Analysis”. Iago throughout the play makes Roderigo look like an idiot. Roderigo is blindly in love with Desdemona and is willing to do anything to get her to love him back. Iago uses people’s weaknesses in his advantage and he uses Roderigo to hurt Othello. Iago has no conscious, he continues to deceive Roderigo and while he is using him to get to Othello he is also using him for money.

So Iago takes the gifts that intended for Desdemona from Rodrigo for himself. “Lago is above all a schemer. His passion is to control others and determine the course of events by operating secretively to bend reality to his will”. Is what Richard Raatzsch states in, “The Apologetics of Evil: The Case of Iago”. Cassio like Roderigo fully trust Iago, they both think that Iago is trying to help them. Unfortunately for Cassio was a victim of Iago’s games and ended and Cassio took Iago’s advice which lead to Cassio being trapped, where he was injured. Brandon johnson writes in his article “Analysis of Iago Character in Shakespeare’s “Othello” that “Iago sees people for their true nature, recognising their flaws and weaknesses, and uses them as objects in his chess game, destroying each one to eventually destroy the king himself”.Iago has a talent of understanding and manipulating the desires of the people around him, making him a powerful and evil person. Iago was able to fool the major characters from the play “Othello”. He convinced Emilia of taking the handkerchief and then getting behind the ear of Othello and putting ideas in his head, Iago knowing that Othello would not doubt him. Iago has a manipulative personality, he was able to convince Cassio to keep drinking and he also convinces Roderigo to give him money.

This manipulative characteristic is what brainwashed Othello, making him think ideas that were not true, but because Iago “honest Iago” Othello listened to him. An evil person may be considered as somebody who condones bad or morally wrong activities that cause ruin, injury, misfortune or destruction. Iago can be considered the devil himself. He is driven by evil and plays with everyone to try to destroy Othello. Iago never thought about no else rather than himself and he is immoral.