It Is Iago Who Causes Othello's Downfall, Not a Tragic Flaw in Othello. to What Extent Do You Agree with This Statement?

It is Iago who causes Othello’s downfall, not a tragic flaw in Othello. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

In the play of ‘Othello,’ we firstly see a perfect, loving relationship between two of the main characters, Othello and Desdemona. By the end of the play, this relationship that they share is completely destroyed as Othello is driven by the strong emotion of jealousy to kill his wife and then himself, after realising that he had done an unjustly thing. In a tragedy, there must always be a stage villain and a tragic hero. Shakespeare makes the plots complex so that the play is more exciting and we are left feeling that the situations are needless but at the same time, inevitable. So, by putting together the characters of Iago, who believes in dishonesty, and Othello, who believes in faith, there is an instant clash of characters which leads to a clash in their ideals, and therefore ending the play in inevitable, tragic circumstances. Shakespearean plays always leave unanswered questions and an unclear main reason for why the tragedy has occurred. People have different opinions on how the final tragic moments of the play ‘Othello’ come about, and on which character is mainly to blame in the drastic turn of events. Some believe that the cause of Othello’s downfall was due to Iago’s aim to destroy Othello and his relationship with Desdemona. Shakespeare gives the audience some motivations for why Iago wanted to plot the downfall of the great soldier, Othello: In Act 1, Scene 1 we discover that Iago was overlooked for promotion to Othello’s lieutenant in favour of Cassio. Iago is enraged by this decision by Othello as he clearly thinks he is better for the job, but at the same time, intends to keep Othello’s trust in order to use this trust so that he can manipulate Othello in the future;

“I follow him to serve my turn upon him.”

“In following him, I follow but myself.”

“I am not what I am.”

Due to this overlook on promotion, Iago’s malicious nature and hatred for Othello becomes evident. So, we know that even from the first scene of the play, Iago despises Othello and would enjoy seeing him brought down. The audience can clearly observe that Iago is a racist because of the many comments he makes about Othello’s non-Venetian background. This suggests that his loathing of Othello could be based on his prejudices against foreigners. For example, in his conversation with Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, he graphically depicts Othello as an animal or devil who is just using his daughter to satisfy his own lusts, referring to him as “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.” There is also a profit motive for Iago. We find out early that Roderigo was once a suitor of Desdemona that had been rejected by Brabantio, her father. In Act 1, Scene 3 Roderigo tells Iago of his feelings for Desdemona;

“………I confess it my shame to be so fond, but it is not in my virtue to amend it”

From this point Iago encourages Roderigo to sell his assets, convert them all to money, by repeatedly advising him to “put money in thy purse.” So, Iago feels here that, not only, will he have his fun bringing Othello down but has, also, found a gullible fool who will finance it and he will profit from. Another motive for why Iago wanted Othello to be brought down is that there are rumours that Othello has slept with own wife, Emilia. This is another reason that Iago would feel hatred towards Othello. Iago strikes the audience as being a very malicious, jealous person who is obviously jealous of the loving relationship shared between Othello and Desdemona. He cannot stand the fact that he does not have this with his own wife so wants to destroy the perfect relationship that Othello and Desdemona have. Othello has the ability to love and be loved, which is something that Iago doesn’t seem to have, judging by the scenes with his wife, Emilia. There is a great deal of jealousy on Iago’s part about a man (Othello) who is a true warrior and leader of men. A man who has a great deal of goodness about him, has trust in human kind and is popular amongst others. Professor Bradley, a critic, says that, “Evil has nowhere else been portrayed with such mastery as in the character of Iago.” Many commentators have also observed that Iago displays psychopathic tendencies which would mean, if true, that his need to destroy Othello would need no motivation at all. Some critics, on the other hand, believe that Othello’s downfall was brought about purely by himself and his flaws. Shakespeare unmistakably shows the audience that Othello has some virtues and flaws that inevitably bring about the tragic ending of the play. Othello’s main flaw is that he is too trusting and gullible. He shows an unwavering trust in Iago’s comradeship, judgement and honesty which Iago unmercilessly manipulates. This is probably because as soldiers, they have fought alongside each other and certainly Othello has developed a high level of trust in his men. To show Iago’s success in this even at the end of the play, Othello still refers to him as “honest Iago.” Although Othello’s character is a powerful, military leader, we can see that he is actually a very insecure person. His insecurity is due to his knowledge that he is an outsider of Venice and even though he is much respected as a soldier, does not feel as though he is accepted in Venetian society. His foreign background caused Othello to believe that people looked down on him. Desdemona is from a wealthy, Venetian family that dislikes non-Venetians, so the fact that he has fallen in love with this woman does not help with his self-esteem issues. The stage villain, Iago knows of this weakness and so by hinting at Desdemona’s disloyalty, he knows that Othello will become highly apprehensive and presume that Desdemona is starting to believe in the remarks that her family would be saying to her about foreigners. He has a very vivid imagination, as we know from the remarkable stories he tells Desdemona which makes her fall in love with him. This extraordinary imagination however is also a defect for Othello because Iago makes Othello’s mind run wild with thoughts about Desdemona’s ‘unfaithfulness’. Othello displays a great dependency on Desdemona and her love. He cannot believe his luck (he is “too much of joy”) and believes that without her he would descend into madness. This, when Iago introduces the insinuation of Desdemona’s infidelity, turns Othello into the jealous rage and depression which leads to the tragic consequence of the final acts. To turn from the joyful Othello to the dark-mannered monster later and so quickly, Othello would, in modern day, be possibly classed as bipolar. He shows a naivete and innocence of the real world, particularly where women are concerned (as opposed to his wide understanding of the male dominated world of the military where he would have felt more comfortable). In the first act, he admits he is shy where love is concerned and in the third act, he is easily convinced by Iago that Venetian women have a reputation for being unfaithful to their husbands. Lastly, one of the more tragic, and in Shakespearean times, unavoidable flaws, is Othello’s vice of pride. To lose face in his society would be unbearable and would require him to take revenge or impose self exile or even suicide, when people found out about his wife’s unfaithfulness. In killing his wife, Desdemona, Othello will have seen this as an inevitable consequence of her infidelity and that he was justified no matter how painful the act was. This code of honour, as Iago will have known when he was manipulating Othello, will not have allowed mercy to Desdemona. From the arguments I have set out above, we can see that the two characters of Othello and Iago are the perfect antithesis of each other. The question that needs to be considered is if Iago would be successful if Othello had been different. If Othello had been more naturally suspicious and untrusting of people and their motives, Iago would not have been able to persuade Othello of Desdemona’s infidelity. He would have believed that Emilia (Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid) was speaking the truth when she told him that Desdemona was completely faithful. If Othello had been more secure in his relationship with Desdemona, he would have spoke openly to Desdemona and believed her when she said nothing was going on. If Othello hadn’t been too proud – if he had swallowed his pride and carried on with married life, he would not have killed Desdemona because he would love her too much to let any incident come between them. It is highly unlikely that the play would have played out the way it did if any of Othello’s flaws were different, because Iago identified and targeted Othello’s weaknesses and manipulated them. I think the play may well have resulted in the exposure of Iago’s schemes if Othello had any of the above different personality traits. This would have meant exile or death for Iago, with Othello and Desdemona still in a loving relationship. Nevertheless, given Iago’s personality traits and his puppet-master role, if any of Othello’s virtues or flaws had been different or not there, I think he would have found something else or some other way of destroying Othello. So, in answer to the question, it would seem to be impossible to agree or disagree to any extent, because the statement itself, as I have demonstrated, is quite like asking ‘what came first, the chicken or the egg?’ I mean by this that Iago only succeeds because Othello has flaws that can be manipulated and as no man is flawless, then an evil puppet-master genius like Iago will always find a way to cause a person’s downfall.