Examples Of Temptation In Othello

Temptation is a very manipulative process. The character of Iago, in William Shakespeare’s Othello, is a very devious man that manipulates the character of Othello through temptation. Iago has a plan to distort Othello’s marriage and trick Othello into believing that his wife, Desdemona, is having an affair with his former lieutenant, Cassio. Act III of this play is the prevalent point of Iago’s plan where he is really able to suck Othello in to his devious ways. Iago uses drawing attention, allurement, and rationalization to successfully manage to poison Othello’s mind. To begin his plan, Iago simply begins to draw attention, or point things out. At this point in the play, Cassio has lost his job and has asks Desdemona to help him get it back. Iago and Othello walk in to a scenario where Cassio and Desdemona were together. Cassio leaves immediately when he sees Othello starting towards them. Othello is blinded to this, but Iago was not. He says, “Ha, I like not that” (3.3.37). Iago, by simply stating “Ha, I like not that,” brought it
He sucks him in to his lies. Now, Othello is at a point where he can tell that Iago knows something. Iago keeps repeating that it is nothing and he can’t tell him. He says, “I do beseech you-- though I perchance am vicious in my guess, as, I confess, it is my nature's plague to spy into abuses, and oft my jealousy shapes faults that are not…It were not for your quiet nor your good, nor for my manhood, honesty, or wisdom, to let you know my thoughts” (3.3.170-80). Iago is killing Othello by telling him that he has thoughts, but he will not reveal them. Othello is getting pulled deeper and deeper into Iago’s malicious plan. The way Iago says that he often is suspicious about things and it ends up being nothing, makes Othello even more curious. He is practically begging Othello to not make him tell him, which is making him more and more anxious to