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... o believe is justified or Iago who, at least psychologically, is the true The irony of Othello lies in the fact that by trying to expose Othello as a beast, Iago himself becomes a beats Othello could never return to an anomalistic state because he never loses his sense of honor. His murder of Desdemona is an act misguided justice. Yet Iago's part in the murder is more fitting of a beast. Othello murders with a reason; Iago murder without a reason. As the play progresses, the use of animal imagery as character description shifts from Othello to Iago.
In Act 5, scene 1, after being stabbed by Iago, Roderigo says, "O damn'd Iago! O inhuman dog!" (5. 2. 288). Later in Act 5, Lodovico describes Iago first as a "viper" (5. 2. 288) and then as Iago can be view in two ways, he can be seen as a beast from the beginning of the play or as an evil man who transforms into a beast. Early in the play, Iago's confusion about what separates man and beast is evident. He says to Roderigo, "Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon" (1. 3. 315 - 316). This line illustrates Iago's belief that to love and to willingly sacrifice for that love is absurd.
He would rather live as an animal than be guided by love for another, and indeed he does just that. Iago is guided only by self-love, which is the same as animals who are guided by self-preservation. He lives by the anomalistic saying "survival of the fittest." Yet even if Iago begins the play as a beast, throughout the play he progresses even further into a beast like state. Initially Iago sets out for revenge against Othello.
Iago wants Cassio's position as leutenient and will do anything to get it. As the play progresses Iago's motives begin to become less clearer. Throughout the acts that follow, Iago behaves increasingly more like a beast. He loses his ability (if he ever had it) to think and act justly. He becomes obsessed with destroying Othello's life. Iago mentions through out the play that he hates Othello and yet unlike most humans, Iago has no reason for his hate.
His hatred of Othello is beast-like, stemming not from rational thought but from animal instinct. As if in reaction to his pure animal instinct, Iago seems to grasp for a human reason to hate Othello. At the end of Act 1, he says, "I hate the Moor / And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets / 'Has done my office. I know not if't be true; / Yet I, for mere suspicion in that kind, / Will do as if for surety" (1. 3. 379 - 384). This line illustrates an important difference between Iago and Othello. Whereas Othello demands proof of his wife's adultery before he measures out justice, Iago demands no proof.
He is not concerned with justice. The mere idea of Othello bedding Emilia is enough for Iago to plot revenge against Othello. If facts do not provide Iago with a reason for destroying the Moor, then he will simply create fact from Iago's belief that Othello has slept with his wife gains even more momentum in Act 2. He says, "For that I do suspect the lustful Moor / Hath lep'd into my seat; the thought whereof / Doth like a poisonous mineral gnaw my inwards; / And nothing can nor shall content my soul / Till I am even'd with him, wife for wife. " (2. 1. 289 - 292) Iago, like Othello, is obsessed with serving justice for a crime that never happened. Yet, unlike Othello, Iago has no reason to suspect his wife of adultery.
Of these two men, Iago more closely resembles a beast. Othello at least has reason to believe that his murder of Desdemona is justified. Iago, on the other hand, has no justified reason for destroying Othello's life. Iago's inability to determine right from wrong is another example of his bestiality. Iago cannot decided between good and evil.
He considers his destruction of Othello's life justified even though he has no valid motive or reason. In fact, the only valid motive Iago requires is his own sense of pleasure. As he says to Roderigo at the beginning of the play, "If thou canst cuckold him, thou doest thyself a pleasure, me a sport" (1. 3. 365). Iago's motive of sport is synonymous with an animals' motive of pleasure. Animals, like Iago, act solely on the basis of self-gratification and self-preservation. Iago also fits Cassio's definition of beast.
As Cassio says in Act 2, men "with joy, pleasance, revel and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!" (2. 3. 284). Cassio is saying that men who act solely on the motive of pleasure are actually not men but beasts. Iago, more than Othello, fits this description. Iago is guided purely by his sense of pleasure; Othello is guided purely by his sense of justice.
Ironically, as Iago becomes increasingly obsessed with destroying Othello, his animal instincts take over whatever human qualities he possesses. When he says at the end of Act 1, "Hell and night / Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light" (1. 3. 397), he is referring to Othello's transformation from man to beast. Actually, this line more accurately describes the transformation that Iago undergoes. He changes from revenge-seeking man into pleasure-seeking beast.
In Othello, this theme of man becoming beast is commonly interpreted as a transformation undergone by Othello. Iago is viewed as the catalyst that initiates Othello's return to a beast like state. However, the opposite is actually closer to the truth. Othello is seemingly the catalyst that causes Iago's return to a beast like state.
Both men play a role in the murder of Desdemona, but Iago's motive is more befitting a beast. Othello kills out of a misguided sense of justice; Iago kills without reason. With Othello, Shakespeare is answering the question, "What is left when honor is lost?" His answer comes from the mouth of Cassio: "Reputation, reputation, reputation! / O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial" (2. 3. 254 - 256). Bibliography:
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