· The word ‘honest’ is used 4 times in this passage. Comment on who uses it each time and what meaning Shakespeare conveys.
The repetition of the word “honest” in this extract is used by Shakespeare to create a sense of irony, as they were all use to describe Iago, who, from the audience’s point of view, is anything but honest. The term honest has its Latin root from the word “honestus”, meaning “with honour” and might be used in that context from Middle English. This sense of irony is therefore strong in the audience’s eyes as they know Iago’s true intentions. However, the characters in the play do not know what the audience knows, therefore we can see that Cassio using the phrase “honest Iago” in this extract to emphasize how he sees Iago as honourable might cause the audience to feel dislike towards Iago as they clearly see how he is manipulating Cassio while the latter speaks so highly of Iago.
The use of the word “honest” by Iago to describe himself also shows how he wants others to see him. The repetition of this word to some extent creates an exaggeration which could be used by Shakespeare to create a dislike of Iago within the audience as they know that Iago isn’t an honest character. This use also emphasizes the way in which Iago wants to manipulate other characters into thinking of him as an honest character, acting like a form of subliminal message as if saying it over and over again might trick them into thinking of him as honest.
· ‘How am I then a villain/to counsel Cassio to this parallel course/directly to his good?’
- What does Iago mean by this line?
- Do you think that Iago really believes this?
This line means that Iago is saying that he is not a villain for telling Cassio to go talk to Desdemona because it would be a good thing for Cassio.
I do not think that Iago really believes this, because of two reasons. Firstly, it is clearly shown throughout the play that Iago has been manipulating and planning Cassio’s and Othello’s downfall from the start and it would be impossible for Iago to really believe that he isn’t the villain. To a certain extent, Iago is doing good for Cassio in telling him to go talk to Desdemona, but if Iago hadn’t manipulated Cassio into fighting Roderigo and Montano, Cassio wouldn’t have gotten into trouble with Othello in the first place. Secondly, by telling Cassio to talk to Desdemona, Iago did not intend for it to do Cassio good at all, but to create jealousy in Othello who will think that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. In my opinion, Iago might be saying this to justify his actions, as a way to make what he is doing seem less evil.
· Comment on the effect of lines 348—357 on the audience (with close reference to language features and how they reveal/further develop aspects of character).
In this extract, several literary features were used to further portray Iago’s calculative, manipulative and malicious character in the play.
One example of this is through Shakespeare’s use of metaphor on line 351 to emphasize Iago’s malicious and villainous nature. On this line, Iago talks about his plan to “pour” “pestilence into his [Othello’s] ear”. The harsh “p” sounds created in this line highlights to the audience Iago’s malicious and villainous nature because the “p” sounds do not create a very pleasant tone, which suggest to the audience Iago’s unpleasant character. Also, this metaphor creates a very unpleasant image of Iago’s intentions as he describes how he wants to pour pestilence into Othello’s ear, creating a representation of Iago as a villain because it sounds like Othello would be the victim of this deed.
Also, Shakespeare intentionally creates a long sentence from line 348 to 354 to depict to the audience Iago’s calculative and manipulative nature. In this extract, Iago describes how he wants to tell lies to Othello about Cassio and Desdemona’s supposed affair. The use of a long sentence with a coma at the end of every line shows to the audience Iago’s train of thought, highlighting his intelligent as calculative character as he plans everything and anticipates its outcome.
· Lines 308—330 are written in prose (continuous speech) but the soliloquy (lines 331—357) is written as verse.
- How does this affect the sound of these two speeches delivered by Iago?
- Why would Shakespeare choose to alternate between the two?
The extract written in prose is the conversation between Iago and Cassio and the one in soliloquy is of Iago talking to himself. In the extract written in prose, Iago’s speech sounds much more persuasive as he is trying to persuade Cassio to go to Desdemona for help by praising Desdemona by saying how “she is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposition”. This makes Iago’s speech very pleasant to listen to as he tries to persuade Cassio. On the other hand, Iago’s soliloquy is presented very differently to the audience. In his soliloquy, Iago’s speech is very poetic as it is written in verse, but at the same time contains very unpleasant language because he is talking to himself with no one else listening and is really saying what’s on his mind. Therefore, this speech contains unpleasant things such as “I’ll pour pestilence into his ear”.
Shakespeare might choose to alternate between the two extract in this way in order to show to the audience Iago’s two sided nature and how manipulative he could be.
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