Othello & Iago Two Sides of A Coin
It would be very easy on first reading through Othello to view thetwo main protagonists, Iago and Othello, as diversely opposed. Othello, onemight read, is pure and brave and heroic and tragic, while Iago iscorrupted and cowardly and ignoble and villainous. One might even wonderhow such a wormy fellow as Iago managed to become the personal assistant,or "ancient" to such a brilliant and brave soldier as Othello. Of course,if one were to explore the answer to that, one might be able to to quicklysee that there was a strong connection portrayed between Othello and Iago,and that they two had been acquaintances and friends for a long time. ToOthello's mind, if not to Iago's, they were best of companions. Indeed,while Iago and Othello may at first glance appear to be opposites and foilsfor one another, on closer examination one can see that the two have agreat deal in common: both are marginalized and looked down upon despitetheir very real achievements; both seek to win their way in the worldthrough the use of fancy and sometimes even deceptive language, counting ontheir charm to guide them; both are of a naturally jealous bent that seesdishonor and cause for jealousy where none exists, and it wil
[to quote John Earle] An Ordinary Honest Man Is one whom it concerns to be called honest, for if he were not this, he were nothing. One can tosome degree see how Iago may be using Othello's less bridled rage to playat his own fantasies of destruction stemming from Emilia's adultery. For Iago certainly does not seem, at the beginning, tointend for things to go as far as they will later go. ling tosacrifice its own best interests in favor of a revenge which can neverfulfill. One critic explains it thus: "For thetactician Iago has correctly guessed Othello's reaction even to thepossibility of his wife's unfaithfulness, and at first with all thehesitations proper to an honest man (and an inferior) communicating such asuspicion, he infects Othello with his own disgust. Ofcourse, Othello could not be so infected if her were not by nature ajealous man even as Iago is. As Greenblat explains it, Iago enmeshes Othelloin his narrative in precisely the same way that Othello had enmeshedOthello in his own narrative. Othello uses narrative to define himself in thebeginning as a brave and gentle soul, and at the end he uses narrativeagain to try to explain his actions (as best he can) to his audience andthe spectators watching him prepare to die. Adding insult to injury, the nobleman who has been promotedover him, Cassio, has a "consciousness of rank superiority, what we, in ourproclaimed classless society, consider snobbishness. Othello hascertainly been more successful in overcoming his marginalization than hasIago, but it nonetheless remains a force with him. In the beginning of the story he confessesbrotherly love and concern for her, saying, "I do love her too, [and] Notout of absolute lust" (2. Hiswife is forced to be a handservent to Desdemona. Not only are both Iago and Othello at a disadvantage in society, butboth seem to have a similar approach to dealing with this disadvantage:both create narratives that transform the situations in which they findthemselves.
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