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Iago the "Green - Eyed Monster"

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In the Shakespearean play Othello, the “Green – Eyed Monster”, otherwise known as jealousy, is nothing but a killer. It is a creature that drove Iago to his monstrous revenge plot. During the duration of the play, jealousy was one of the main motives Iago had as a foundation in his plot to destroy Othello. As the lowest ranking officer, Othello’s ancient, Iago wanted to be promoted to the lieutenant position. In the opening scene of Act I, Iago described his jealousy towards Michael Cassio to Roderigo. He described how Cassio had, “never set squadron in the field” and that his knowledge of battle is only known through books (I.I.23). Unlike Michael Cassio, Iago had been in the army for years and felt betrayed by none other than the General himself, Othello. Iago hated Othello, there was no question about it. When speaking to himself, or to others, Iago only called Othello “the Moor.” As said in the critical essay Othello’s Alienation, saying the racist term “the Moor”, it was Shakespeare’s way of playing into the mindsets’ of the audience; Iago and the audience had at least one thing in common, they were racist of people that were not Caucasian (Berry). According to Charles Boyce, Iago only thought Othello as a thing not a person and a “brick wall” to what he really desired, power. Othello, had so much power in the army that Iago felt he deserved after all of his years of service. Iago said that Othello had a, “free and open nature” that was to be tested by his monstrous plot (1.3.442). Not only did Iago hate Othello for his race and power, but he had heard rumor that Othello had an affair with his wife, Emilia. In Act 1, Scene 3, Iago mentions in his soliloquy:
And it is though abroad that ‘twixt my sheets,
‘Has done in my office. I know not if ‘t be true,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for surely.

Iago used this

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