Iago: Inside The Mind Of A Villain Essay, Research Paper

Manipulating people s minds has gone on for thousands of years. The people who do it range from magicians all the way to psychiatrists. Very few people have only mastered this infamous trait. A person notorious for this is Iago. Throughout the play OTHELLO, Iago manipulates different people s thoughts about him, inorder to get what he wants. Many people have false impressions about him and they don t realize it.People s thoughts are sometimes good and sometimes bad. To some people, others thoughts are the most important. In Iago s case, he tries his hardest to get people to like him and trust him. Throughout the play people refer to him as Honest Iago. In Act III Scene I, Cassio refers to Iago as, A Florentine more kind and honest. The people in this play perceive Iago as their best friend and a person who anyone could trust. Since people think of Iago in this way, he is able to get what he wants very easily.A well thought-out plan always works best, and with Iago, this is well justified. Since the beginning, Iago has lied to people and tells them the opposite of what he thinks. He wants people to like and trust him so that he is not perceived as the bad guy . When people think he is deceiving them, Iago always thinks up a lie, so that the person keeps his trust. In the beginning, Roderigo accuses Iago of taking his money and spending it. Iago s reaction is, S blood, but you will not hear me! If ever I did dream of such a matter, abhor me. In saying this, Iago is telling Roderigo that he would never do this and if he did, then to shriek in horror from him. Roderigo then believes that Iago is telling the truth. Also, Iago says that he uses people to get the job that he wants in Act I Scene I.

Iago s plan has worked perfectly, and his friends have many things to say about him. On many accounts Cassio and Roderigo call him honest and kind. In Act I, Scene III, Othello asks that Iago to take care of Desdemona while he is gone. The people have fallen for his tricks and don t even realize what he is trying to do. Since the people don t realize what Iago is up to, they keep putting more trust into him and are starting to tell him more secrets. They do this because they think that he is their friend.In conclusion, Iago s plan might have worked in the beginning, but soon feel out towards the end. When it eventually ended, Iago crashed with 50-ft. flames. Everyone turned against him and all of his trust vanished.