Chapter Commentary of The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice - Study Guide by William Shakespeare

thee an example" (2.3.246). Yet later, speaking to Othello, Iago’s valuation of reputation is very different, "Good name in man or woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls...he that filches from me my good name / Robs me of that which not enriches him / And makes me poor indeed" (3.3.158-64). Iago knows how important reputation is. Without his reputation as "honest" Iago, he would be powerless.

A second point of interest is Iago’s control over Cassio. Talking of reputation he says that it is "...oft got without merit and lost / without deserving". Even whilst comforting Cassio, Iago manages to express his contempt for Cassio to the audience who know what Iago really thinks of Cassio, "a great arithmetician...". Likewise, the audience are also aware that Iago’s continued reference to Cassio as "lieutenant" is snide rather than respectful. Iago makes sure that Cassio will not realise that it was him that brought about his downfall. He questions him with a show of innocent ignorance, "What was he that you followed with your sword? What had he done to you?". Cassio replies, "I know not" to which Iago marvels, "Is’t possible?". Cassio does not see that Iago is duping him, does not realise that Iago’s advice is designed to suit Iago’s purposes rather than his own, that he is not what he seems. "You advise me well" he says. He does indeed advise Cassio well and this is the most interesting aspect of his control:

And what’s he then that says I play the villain?

When this advise is free I give and honest

Probal to thinking and indeed the course

To win the Moor again?(2.3.331-34)

His control lies in his ability to advise people, to convince them to do what he wants them to. In order to do this, his advice must seem honest and logical. It is by manipulating the other characters that he engineered Cassio’s downfall and it is also thus that he can engineer the tragic situation at the end of the play:

I’ll pour pestilence into [Othello"s] ear:

That she repeals [Cassio] for her body’s lust(2.3.351-352)

So will I turn her virtue into pitch

And out of her goodness make this net

That shall enmesh them all.

(2.3.355-57)

Roderigo is the one exception. He is foolish enough to follow Iago’s advice, indeed pay for Iago’s service, even though there is little sense in the advice that Iago offers and no evidence that it is effective. The ease with which Iago handles Roderigo at the end of the second act contrasts with the care he took in his conversation with Cassio. His soliloquy (2.3.377-383) again reveals the way in which his plotting mind works. As he said earlier, "’Tis here, but yet confused" (2.1.309) and here again he can be seen still working his plan out. The second act which has seen dramatic changes over a brief period of time ends promising fireworks to come, "...ay, that’s the way! / Dull not device by coldness and delay!"

Act III

The audience is given a little respite from this fast-moving action with the clown scene at the beginning of Act III. Scene 2 is a brief but important reminder of Othello’s authority and control which is so painfully dismantled by Iago in the following scene. The scene begins with Cassio asking Desdemona to petition Othello on his behalf for his former post. Desdemona’s virtue, her goodness which Iago plans to turn to "pitch", is almost painful to watch for its simple innocence and naïveté.

"I give thee warrant of thy place...