Character Of Iago In “Othello”
Iago continually uses rhetorical strategies to manipulate others. He uses many devices to put false accusations into Othello’s head. In lines 330-447 in act 3 scene 3, Iago uses rhetorical questions, imagery, and sarcasm to make Othello believe that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. To make Othello question Desdemona’s love for him Iago uses rhetorical questions. When Othello says “…than answer my waked wrath! ” Iago comes back with “Is’t come to this my lord. ” Later he goes as far as to say “Are you a man? Have you a soul or sense? This puts the idea of Desdemona having an affair with Cassio in his head, this also serves to make Othello question much of what he held true. Othello believed that Iago was an honest man. Iago acts very sympathetically towards Othello and in doing this he creates the illusion that he knows what he is talking about. This leads Othello to sense that Iago knows more than what he is sharing. Iago’s questioning ways lead Othello into thinking the worse about Desdemona and Cassio, Iago gains exactly what he wanted, manipulation.
Iago continually uses rhetorical strategies to manipulate others. He uses many devices to put false accusations into Othello’s head. In lines 330-447 in act 3 scene 3, Iago uses rhetorical questions, imagery, and sarcasm to make Othello believe that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. To make Othello question Desdemona’s love for him Iago uses rhetorical questions. When Othello says “…than answer my waked wrath! ” Iago comes back with “Is’t come to this my lord. ” Later he goes as far as to say “Are you a man? Have you a soul or sense? This puts the idea of Desdemona having an affair with Cassio in his head, this also serves to make Othello question much of what he held true. Othello believed that Iago was an honest man. Iago acts very sympathetically towards Othello and in doing this he creates the illusion that he knows what he is talking about. This leads Othello to sense that Iago knows more than what he is sharing. Iago’s questioning ways lead Othello into thinking the worse about Desdemona and Cassio, Iago gains exactly what he wanted, manipulation.
Secondly, Iago’s use of imagery creates such a lucid picture that makes it hard to believe that it is anything but true. Iago tells of how he slept with Cassio and how Cassio, kept talking about Desdemona in his dreams. Through out the play of used many techniques to get what he wanted and one way or another he some how all most always got what he wanted. His techniques were that of an everyday sneaky, conniving bad guy, who always got people to trust him, except the person that was closest to him.
But the main overall techniques he used were; 1)He gained the trust of people. Which was the number one technique, and from gaining their trust he could branch off form that and then he could manipulate the people he was playing into thinking that he was on their side even when he might be on the opposite side. Another thing that he could do to people was to, from gaining their trust and making then think that he was on their side he could manipulate them and make them turn on each other.
The other technique that he used which didn’t nearly play a role as large as the first technique but was important was he was always very careful, in being discovered and by covering his tracks. He knew how to take care of things in precarious situation. There was in my own personal opinion one more technique, and that was that he knew how to use all his options and could use his wits and cunningness. Iago’s number one technique was his ability to make people trust him. He had just about everyone spun in Iago’s web. Rodrigo, Othello, Cassio, Desdemona, Emilia, and etc.
And he got every one of them to trust him, although he still hadn’t got Emilia into his web fully. She still had suspicions about him. He could gain the trust of people as if it was nothing to him. He always when talking to that certain person said that he was on their side, making a false trust that the person believed, and therefore trusted him. Now most of the people he did this to it worked on. Such as Cassio calling him “Honest Iago” and when Cassio got in that fight with Rodrigo, he believed that Iago was the only good, honest man on his side, even…
