Analyse the Methods Iago Uses to Persuade Other Characters in Othello to His Point of View.

Analyse the Methods Iago Uses to Persuade Other Characters in Othello to his Point of View.

Iago uses some excellent, persuasive methods to deceive his characters into thinking that his point of view is correct. Iago’s plots are made to sync in with the general design of the play, in that it is upon these contrived situations that all the tragedy is born from. The characteristic feature of all of Iago’s plots is that they seek to undermine attitudes and positions of others. He either plants seeds of doubt in people’s minds i.e. Othello or leads people to believe something is occurring when really it’s all made up by Iago for the sake of him concocting his revenge and, thus, his own way. He attacks the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of others and uses these to his advantage. There are many times in Othello when we can recognize Iagos persuasive methods clearly. I’m going to analyse three examples of these methods.

Example one is his corruptions of Brabantio’s mind and thoughts. Roderigo is used a scapegoat so Iago is not recognized. He urges Roderigo to wake and alert Brabantio and inform him of the secretive relationship his daughter is having with the “Moor” and a crude description of what happened – “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe.” Roderigo is used as the puppet in this particular scene. Iago persuades Brabantio through Roderigo that Brabantio has been the victim of robbery – “To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor.” Through this quote, it also makes Othello sound like a sexual predator or rapist. Iago then begins to sow his seeds of doubt in the mind of Brabantio whereas before, Brabantio was content that all was well. In the end Branatio “falls” into the same thinking as Iago and more importantly, Brabantio is prepared to react blindly to these allegations and his newly acquired knowledge. Iago knows that his persuasive methods have been a success when Brabantio takes over from Iago and starts using more confident and authoritative language towards him, as though Brabantio has known all along – “It is too true an evil.”

My second example is when he attacks Cassio’s self confessed “weakness.” In Act II Scene 3. Iago persuades Cassio, even though Cassio knows he is a “lightweight,” – “I am unfortunate in the infirmity and dare not task my weakness with any more,” to have more wine to drink and therefore making him drunk. This leads to a brawl between Roderigo and Montano. Iago stage manages the entire incident which culminates in Cassio being dismissed of his lieutenancy. Iago “accidently” drops hints to Othello about what really happened and eventually tells the true account of the brawl – “Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth.”

Iago finally hits the jackpot by the persuasion of Othello in Act III Scene 3. This is where all his pervious persuasive traits have been headed. He begins by again sowing these seeds of doubt slowly into Othello’s mind. After Cassio is seen conversing with Desdemona about him regaining his lieutenancy, Cassio quickly walks away as he doesn’t want Othello to know about his pleading with Desdomona. Iago knows this will look suspicious to Othello as Iago has already brought Othello’s attention to the incident – “Cassio my lord? No, sure I cannot think it That he would steal-away so guilty like.” He keeps stuttering and faltering which raises Othello’s suspicions about the incident and leads Othello to believe something is up. Othello questions Iago but Iago says that only his politeness prevents him from speaking an unacceptable truth and Iago satesa that he should be wary of Cassio around Desdemonda - “Look to your wife, observe her well with Cassio.” Thus Othello now begins to doubt things which before his never did i.e. his wife’s fidelity. From here onwards, each detail Othello observes will be twisted by Iago and contribute to a totally different, wrong point on view. Iago is so successful because of the plausibility of his lies and the assumption, that every character clearly states he is “honest Iago.”

Iago is a character who exploits the difference between appearance and reality – he makes the characters believe something based on how they seem the eye. He persuades them that the reality is what it really does seem and pulls them away from the real truth of the situation. He uses this method to confuse the moral perspectives of others. He has an extremely, deliberate unsettling effect on the characters , and because of his previous, honest assessments and the fact of his plausible lies, he is the main driving force which leads the characters he comes into contact with, to their downfall in most cases.

In conclusion, Iago knows that his persuasive methods will be a success as long as prevents each character he uses in his plots from talking about their actions. (Which he fails to do with Emilia at the end of the play.) Iago poisons the mind of vulnerable and naïve people. He uses their rather large weaknesses, to a huge advantage. Once he’s found their weakness he will keep nibbling away at it until he makes the character do something they will certainly regret. Iago is extremely clever and versatile in the sense that his lies are hard NOT to be believed. He presents the characters with, what is apparently, strong, concrete evidence and slowly brings them round to his tale. Iago is a very clever character and once you are in his grasp of one of his deceiving persuasive methods, it’s inevitable that his grip around you will tighten and you’ll regret you ever trusted “honest” Iago.