Shakespeare's Iago is one of Shakespeare's most complexvillains. At first glance Iago's character seems to be pure evil.However, such a villain would distract from the impact of the play and
would be trite. Shakespeare to add depth to his villain makes himamoral, as opposed to the typical immoral villain. Iago's entirescheme begins when the "ignorant, ill-suited" Cassio is given theposition he desired. Iago is consumed with envy and plots to steal theposition he feels he most justly deserves. Iago deceives, steals, andkills to gain that position. However, it is not that Iago pushes asidehis conscience to commit these acts, but that he lacks a conscience tobegin with. Iago's amorality can be seen throughout the play and isdemonstrated by his actions. For someone to constantly lie and deceive one's wife andfriends, one must be extremely evil or, in the case of Iago, amoral.In every scene in which Iago speaks one can point out his deceptivemanner. Iago tricks Othello into beleiving that his own wife ishaving an affair, without any concrete proof. Othello is so caught upin Iago's lies that he refuses to believe Desdemona when she deniesthe whole thing. Much credit must be given to Iago's diabolicalprowess which enables him to bend and twist the supple minds of hisfriends and spouse. In today's society Iago would be called apsychopath without a conscience not the devil incarnate. Iago also manages to steal from his own friend without theslightest feeling of guilt. He embezzles the money that Roderigo giveshim to win over Desdemona. When Roderigo discovers that Iago has been
hoarding his money he screams at Iago and threatens him. However, when
Iago tells him some fanciful plot in order to capture Desdemona'sheart Roderigo forgets Iago's theft and agrees to kill Cassio. Iago'skeen intellect is what intrigues the reader most. His ability to saythe right things at the right time is what makes him such a successfulvillain. However, someone with a conscience would never be able tokeep up such a ploy and deceive everyone around him. This is why it isnecessary to say that Iago is amoral, because if you don't hischaracter becomes fictional and hard to believe. At the climactic ending of the play, Iago's plot is given awayto Othello by his own wife, Emilia. Iago sees his wife as an obstacleand a nuisance so he kills her. He kills her not as much out of angerbut for pragmatic reasons. Emilia is a stumbling block in front of hispath. She serves no purpose to him anymore and she can now only hurthis chances of keeping the position he has been given by Othello.Iago's merciless taking of Emilia's and Roderigo's lives is anotherproof of his amorality. If one looks in modern day cinema, one will see the tritevillain, evil to the core. Shakespeare took his villains to a higherlevel. He did not make them transparent like the villains of moderncinema. He gave his villains depth and spirit. Iago is a perfectexample of "Shakespeare's villain." His amorality and cynicism give,what would be a very dull character, life.
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