Why was Iago so cruel?

[kelby_lake]

Well, he was kinda born a bit warped methinks, but place your bets!

[JBI]

Other, he was a nihilist, and brought down Othello, as a means of bringing down authority. In truth, many readers have viewed the play as featuring Iago as the main character, and not Othello, since he speaks far more often, and we hear a lot more from him than Othello.

I think Iago was a genius, and was playing to destroy structured society, and society in general. Desdemona was just a means to an end, as he saw the best way to destroy the Moor was through her.

I think it is impossible to say that he was "in love" with Desdemona, as he gets her killed for the sake of his own scheme, and I am reluctant to accept any queer-theory reading or Freudian reading of this work, because there isn't much backing.

I would say that Iago seeks to destroy the power of authority, throughout the whole work, by first ruining Othello's wedding night, then the first night in Cypress, where he causes the riot, then, eventually destroys the pitiful Roderigo, and Desdemona, and Othello, and even his wife. He wins in the end, and knows it too well. It is his misogyny that causes him to be revealed however, after he has already won, and as a result, he is killed/punished offstage.

[kelby_lake]

I think Iago doesn't like authority too, but I think he wants the power. He gets really annoyed when Cassio innocently kisses Emilia, and you can't argue it's jealousy out of love because he's not exactly a loving husband. It reminds him that his rank is lower, doesn't it? He certainly seems to have renounced pretty much all his morals.
Do you mean nihilist or anarchist or both?

[Niamh]

I loved acting Iago. There is such freedom of expression in that role. If you have a lot of anger bottled up, the release is amazing when being Iago. He is almost the personification of evil.

[amalia1985]

I'l agree with you. In my opinion, Iago is one of the most complex characters of Shakespeare, up there with Shylock. I think that he is overwhelmed with anger, the desire to change everything around him, he is full of hatred. I cannot really suggest whether he is an anarchist or a nihilist- although, in my way of thinking, I would probably support the anarchist point of view- but I think that he is condemned to love what he hates, and that is power, as kelby_lake suggested. I don't think that his actual motivation is the utter desire to take the power for himself, but to annihilate the Authority- both the institution as a notion, perhaps (if we perform a modern, political reading), and those who represent Order. I agree with Niahm. Iago has always been one of my favourite Shakespeare characters.

[pjloki]

Iago felt betrayed by Othello-both personally and in his soldierly profession-and for him just feeling was enough. He didn't actually care if that was the truth because in many ways the truth didn't matter to him. Arguably, Shakespeare's greatest,and most underestimated, creation. He fails because he is not challenged and grows overconfident.One of the most common comments about HAMLET is that, if you switched the protaganists in the two plays, there would be no plays because Othello would simply kill Claudius and Hamlet would see through Iago misses the whole point of Iago and his place in this play.Not a humble opinion-but mine by Gawd(I love Flashman).

[Lokasenna]

The text is really open to whatever interpretation the actors and the directors make of him. I've seen him as a bluff soldier with a chip on his shoulder who just gets lucky, and as an inhuman, malevolent clown, and everything in between.

Ultimately, he offers us several rather inadequte reasons for his actions, but none of them really pass muster. At the end of the play, he of course refuses to justify himself - denying both the other characters and the audience satisfaction.

As Coleridge said of Iago's asides to the audience: "the motive-hunting of motiveless Malignity".

[Virgil]

Originally Posted by JBI

Other, he was a nihilist, and brought down Othello, as a means of bringing down authority. In truth, many readers have viewed the play as featuring Iago as the main character, and not Othello, since he speaks far more often, and we hear a lot more from him than Othello.

I think Iago was a genius, and was playing to destroy structured society, and society in general. Desdemona was just a means to an end, as he saw the best way to destroy the Moor was through her.

Where in the play is that, the anti-authority theme? This sounds like 1960's version. As a high ranking subordinate to Othello he is part of authority. He is Othello's right hand man and therefore 99% of the army would fall under him. If anything the play relates to Machiavelliean impulses to overthrow the Prince for personal power.

[kelby_lake]

Iago has a pretty low rank, army-wise.
Othello and Cassio are both idiots.

[optimisticnad]

Yikes, we'll be ancient before we work this out. I can't vote because I can't decide. Perhaps this was why - given the complex nature of Iago - Coleridge concluded that it was in the end 'motiveless malignity'. However I've never been a fan S. T Coleridge so that goes out the window....

Is he evil? No, I don't think so. He doesn't kill for the pleasure but rather as a means to an end, he kills because he has to - even at the end - Emilia might have lived had she not said anything.

I think modern day psychologist would say he was unloved yet unfortunately we don't know enough from the play to come to that conclusion.

As for wanting to overthrow authority - it could be a sub-motive but hardly the fundamental one. It also makes me wonder why he would undermine Othello in his personal life rather than professional if he wanted to overthrow authority - because it's easier? The best way to get to Othello? Unlikely that a genius like Iago would look for an easy way like this. Also Othello, being a Moor, was not exactly a figure of authority despite he's noble temperament - hence by Desdemona's father was outraged when he heard about the elopement. Would he have reacted like that if Cassio - also a figure of authority had married his daughter? I think not.

Impossible to decide! After all, he is not what he is ('I am not what I am') so we have nothing go on!

[optimisticnad]

Also, Iago sure knows a lot about 'the green eyed monster'. Could it be possible that Emilia 'cuckolded' him once? She does talk promiscuously to Desdomona in the famous bathing scene before Desdemon's death.

[kelby_lake]

Maybe, maybe...