Blog Post #10 Othello

“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser” (Shakespeare, 99). 

I found Iago to be the most interesting character in this play, for he knows everyone and their characteristics so well that he was able to manipulate them effortlessly. Like a chameleon, he’s speech often changes according to who he is talking to, and he always knows what people want to hear. Here in this excerpt, he is consoling Cassio who had just lost his title and fame, and telling Cassio reputation is just an idea in one’s mind. However, we see Iago with the quote of “good name in men and women, dear my lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals my purse steals trash. ’Tis something, nothing; ’Twas mine, ’Tis his, and has been slave to thousands. But he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.” To prove to Othello his credibility, he claims to be a man who valued his reputation the most. His speeches often contradict each other.

There are many examples in the play, in which Iago contradicts himself. In his conversation with others, he also talks about a character in one way, and another way when he is with someone else. Since we the audience follow him throughout the play, the intention of him was clear to us, and even exaggerated when we hear him talking about the same object with opposite attitudes.

This quote from Iago also draws my attention:

“A knave very voluble, no further conscionable than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane seeming for the better <compassing> of his salt and most hidden loose affection. Why, none, why none! A slipper and subtle knave, a <finder-out of occasions,> that <has> an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never present itself; a devilish knave!” (Shakespeare, 77)

He said this when he was proposing Desdemona’s affair with Cassio to Roderigo. Given Roderigo’s love and admire for Desdemona, Iago knows Roderigo is not likely to be persuaded; to make the affair seems more real, he describes Cassio as such, suggesting that both Desdemona and Cassio are not simple-minded. Although this quote was a description of Cassio by Iago, I found it to fit Iago himself perfectly well. If taken out of the context, one can assume that it was a description of Iago.