How does emilia feel about iago

Why does Othello go to Cyprus? Why does Roderigo agree to kill Cassio? Does Cassio die? How does Roderigo die? Does Othello kill Desdemona? Why does Emilia die? Home Literature Notes Othello Emilia. Character Analysis Emilia. Adam Bede has been added to your Reading List! For making him egregiously an ass. And practising upon his peace and quiet. It gives him an exquisite pleasure to insure Cassio's destruction by acting as a friend and giving him good advice :. How am I then a villain To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,.

Directly to his good? Divinity of hell! When devils will the blackest sins put on,. They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,. A person's idealized image is often modeled upon a hero who embodies in a glamorous or heightened form the characteristics which are prescribed by his solution.

Julien Sorel and Raskolnikov, for example, seek to imitate Napoleon. Igao's model is the devil himself, and he takes an enormous pride in the thought that he is as good a deceiver as his own divinity. The joy which Iago experiences as his plot so beautifully unfolds derives both from a delight in evil for its own sake, which is one of his shoulds, and from his triumphant feeling that he is becoming his idealized self.

Iago needs to validate not only his idealized image, but also his bargain, which has been threatened both by his own disappointment and by the success of others. As we have seen, Iago's preoccupation with self-effacing types indicates the presence within him of inner conflicts.

At the same time that he exults in his knavery, he has a need to make his revenge seem normal by attributing it to the time honored motive of having been cuckolded. It is because he has strong compliant trends within himself which he needs to keep repressed that the good fortune of virtuous people is so threatening to Iago.

According to his vision of life, we live in a "monstrous world" in which "To be direct and honest is not safe" III, iii. Since fate is not destroying the honest people, he must do so himself in order to prove that his behavior is required by reality. If their bargain works, and his does not, he will be exposed to severe inner conflicts and unbearable self-hate.

He must be a villain in order to avoid feeling like a monster. To satisfy his needs, Iago must prove not simply that virtue does not pay, but that it is the so-called "good" qualities of his victims which makes them so vulnerable to destruction.

Cassio is an "honest fool" whom Iago can easily exploit for his own purposes. He plays upon Cassio's compliancy in order to make him drunk, and upon his anxiety to be taken back to get him to plead incessantly for Desdemona's intervention. He knows that the "inclining Desdemona" holds it "a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested" II, iii ; and he is ecstatic at the thought that by getting Othello to believe that "she repeals [Cassio] for her body's lust", he will.

II, iii. What makes the whole plot work, of course, is the fact that. The Moor is of a free and open nature. That thinks men honest that but seem to be so ;. And will as tenderly be led by th' nose. By using their generosity, their credulity, and their need for love to destroy his victims, Iago confirms his vision of the world and proves to himself that the only way to survive is to be ruthless, deceitful, and self-sufficient.

Iago's plot serves, finally, to assuage his envy. He envies Cassio's attractiveness to women, Othello's happiness in love, and the Moor's confidence and self- possession. All of these things intensify his feelings of inferiority and his sense of the emptiness of his own life.

He responds by trying to prove that what he envies is really dangerous or not worth having and by trying to make those whom he envies even more miserable than he is himself. Love is not worth having because it turns us into sick fools, like Roderigo, exposes us to the torments of jealousy, and conducts us to the most preposterous conclusions, as it does with both Othello and Desdemona. One of Iago's chief objects, from the outset, is to do away with his envy of Othello by destroying Othello's marriage, his self-confidence, and his peace of mind.

Iago's primary effort in Act I is to "poison [Othello's] delight" I, i in his marriage. He urges Roderigo to. Proclaim him in the streets. Incense her kinsmen,. And though he in a fertile climate dwell,. Plague him with flies ; though that his joy be joy,. Yet throw such changes of vexation on't. As it may lose some colour. He knows that Othello is too important to the state for Brabantio's opposition to undo the marriage, but he hopes at least to interrupt its consummation and to create an atmosphere of tension.

The timing of the brawl which he precipitates between Roderigo and Cassio in Act II may have a similar function, for Othello and Desdemona have not yet slept together and have just retired to enjoy the fruits of their marriage. Iago's envy at the sight of the lovers' joyous reunion in Cyprus is evident :. I cannot speak enough of this content ; It stops me here ; it is too much of joy.

And this, and this, the greatest discords be That e'er our hearts shall make! Iago aside O, you are well tun'd now! But I'll set down the pegs that make this music. Horney's description of the sadist must be recalled here, for it is a perfect explanation of Iago's reactions : 'The happiness of others and their 'naive' expectations of pleasure and joy irritate him.

He must trample on the joy of others. If he cannot be happy and free, why should they be so? This passage helps to explain also Iago's need to undermine Othello's confidence and self-possession and to inflict upon him the torments of jealousy.

Despite his pride in his self-mastery, there are many feelings over which he has no control. His entire plot, which he sees as a testimony to his all-conquering reason, is motivated by compulsive feelings of anxiety, rage, and envy.

He is tormented most of all, perhaps, by his sexual jealousy ; for this feeling conflicts with his pride in his will, violates his taboo against emotional involvement, and testifies to his profound feeling of insecurity. His self-hate is intensified by the sight of Othello's self-assurance and composure, which he displays not only in military matters, but also in his behavior toward Brabantio, Desdemona, and the senate.

It gives Iago an enormous satisfaction to make Othello uncertain of his worth, to undermine his sense of reality, and to drive him mad with jealousy.

These are Iago's very own torments, which he inflicts on Othello in a higher degree. His greatest triumph comes, perhaps, when Othello is so overcome by emotion that he falls into a trance. His scorn of Othello is now so great that he begins to express it openly :.

Would you would bear your fortune like a man! IV, i. Whilst you were here, o'erwhelmed with your grief. A passion most unsuiting such a man ,. Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen, And nothing of a man. Othello's loss of self-control is equally evident a few moments later when he strikes Desdemona in the presence of Lodovico. Is this the nature Whom passion could not shake?

This description of Othello - who has just exited screaming "Goats and monkeys! Authors often have to manipulate their plots in order to show that virtue pays, that the self-effacing solution will be rewarded. There is much less need to do so in order to show that the expansive solutions are bound, sooner or later, to fail.

Pride does go before a fall, if only because it puts us out of touch with reality. A person like Iago has enormous pride in his intellectual powers : "pride in vigilance, in outwitting everybody, in foresight, in planning" NHG, p. One of Iago's needs is to produce a virtuoso performance in which he deceives Roderigo, Cassio, Othello, and Desdemona simultaneously, in a brilliantly integrated scheme, which must be improvised, moreover, as he goes along.

For four acts everything works perfectly, but Iago has overreached himself, and in Act V his plot suddenly unravels. When Emilia betrays him, he is so enraged by the blow to his feeling of mastery and the denial of his claim for loyalty that he kills her on the spot.

Even if she had remained quiet, he would have been undone by Roderigo's accusations and the survival of Cassio. Iago now holds onto his pride in the only way that is left open to him. He will prove his self-control and thwart his tormentors by never speaking word. The rest, we can be assured, is silence. Paris, Hamlet and His Problems. Hereafter cited as OIC. Hereafter cited as NHG. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy ; rpt.

London : Macmillan, , p. Despite my disagreement with Bradley on this point, I find his treatment of Iago to be remarkably perceptive. Hereafter cited as NP. Iago's Motives : a Horneyan analysis [article] Bernard J. Paris I There has been much critical debate about whether Iago's behavior is psychologically motivated.

PARIS that he can reach his ambitious goals if he remains true to his vision of life as a battle and does not allow himself to be seduced by his own softer feelings or the traditional morality. II The precipitating events of the play are Othello's promotion of Cassio to the lieutenancy and his marriage to Desdemona. Near the beginning of scene one, in the course of preparing Roderigo to understand his show of loyalty to Othello, Iago explains his philosophy of egoism : O sir, content you.

PARIS Some critics have argued that, in seeking to understand Iago, we must be sceptical of anything which he says to other characters, including Roderigo, given the fact that his utterances are motivated almost constantly by his schemes of deception.

Browse Essays. Sign in. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. Read More. Words: - Pages: 4. Words: - Pages: 2. Chauvinism In Othello Different characters in Othello give us distinct edification. Words: - Pages: 8. Importance Of Handkerchief In Othello She treats it as if she was a child with the blanket they love to carry around with. Words: - Pages: 5. Emilia In Othello's Jealousy When finally she sees the truth, she abandons all loyalty to Iago and verbally attacks him for the villianary act.