Metaphors In Othello

In tragic play Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello hires Cassio as his first mate over Iago (who has been working longer and harder by Othello’s side.) This sets Iago off into a huge jealousy spiral and he plots a very tactical revenge scheme. He tricks Othello into thinking his wife, Desdemona is sleeping with Cassio. He also gets Cassio fired. Iago’s snakey plan works until the end and results in the death of Desdemona, Roderigo, Othello and himself; Cassio is one the only people to survive. The play is predominantly centered around the jealousy with Iago and Othello. Throughout the play Iago uses very intelligent and sometimes even animalistic metaphors about sex, and jealousy. His cleverly worded metaphors accentuate the deceptive person
that is Iago. Iago often uses animalistic metaphors when referring to sex.
In the start of of the play Iago compares Othello to a black ram and Desdemona to a white ewe, “An old black ram is tupping your white ewe.” Iago and Roderigo tell Desdemona’s father that his daughter and Othello are making nice in between the sheets. By saying Othello is a black ram Iago pointing out that Othello is pointless like black wool and that he is having relations to the senator’s precious and innocent daughter. They hope that after Desdemona's father hear a man that is not worthy of his daughter is with her it will spark a reaction to split them up. Iago also refers to him as “Barbary horse” or a big, bad horse and even the devil because his family is full of beasts from hell and that if him and Desdemona are together they will make beastly, satanic children. In act one, scene three Iago also calls Othello and ass as he is saying they are both unintelligent. By using these animalistic metaphors mainly about sex it makes Othello seem beastly and an unworthy, dense person. Iago is very smart in how he uses them because his goal is to tell Desdemona’s father in a disturbingly descriptive way in hopes he will break them up, taking away Othello’s main source of happiness. This shows the reader how snakey and deceptive Iago
is. Iago is jealousy driven throughout this play, he’s jealous of Michael Cassio for taking his spot and despises Othello for promoting Cassio over himself and at one point Iago heard a rumor of Othello sleeping with his wife.
Multiple times within the play Iago mentions his jealousy and why he is toying with Othello’s life for the mere pleasure of getting back at him, he even uses it when messing with Othello by telling him Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair behind his back. At the very start of the play Iago and Roderigo, (he helps Iago get back at Othello because he is in love with Desdemona and wants to steal her away from him), talk about their hate for Othello, this is where Iago states his main purpose for why he wants to get back at him. “I know my price, I am worth no worse a place. But he, as loving his own pride and purposes, evades them with a bombast circumstance…” He believes he is more worthy of the promotion than Cassio is and cannot stand the fact that Othello did not promote him. In act one, scene 3 Iago says, “I hate the Moor: And it is thought abroad, that ‘twixt in my sheets he has done in my office.” Iago has heard rumors floating around about his wife and Othello getting together in secrecy, the Moor refers to Othello and that he slept with his wife inside his own home, his office; Iago is unsure whether or not these rumors are false, but that that adds all the more reason for him to hate Othello and want to get back at him. Iago constantly hints
that Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair to Othello, which starts to drive him mad with jealousy. “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on,” (act three, scene 3) this is one of Iago’s more ironic and devious metaphors; by warning Othello to not be jealous, it plants more seeds of jealousy into Othello’s mind. Iago uses jealousy to show his purpose for getting back at Othello and he also uses it to his advantage and brings up jealousy to create it in Othello. Iago is very smart and sneaky with what he says, and how and when he does. By doing that it capitalizes on the manipulative monster he is. Iago is a deceptive, manipulative, and destructive person. He uses animalistic metaphors about sex to make Othello seem like a beast to Desdemona’s father and by putting images for his sweet, innocent daughter getting with someone like Othello will end it and destroy Othello’s happiness. He is quite sneaky with how he phrases everything so it works to his advantage. Iago uses metaphors about jealousy as well to show why he is the way he is and also to slowly drive Othello mad until he starts to ruin his life the way he feels Othello ruined his. Iago is very intelligent and furtive with what he says and does which grabs the reader's’ attention to the snakey person he is, although at the end it backfires on him and leads to the destruction of his, Roderigo, Cassio, Othello, Desdemona, his wife’s lives.