Analyse How Iago Is Presented in His First Soliloquy

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to create an echo-like sound, perhaps reflecting that Iago’s mind is completely self-focussed and to demonstrate his willingness to manipulate others for his own good.

Shakespeare manipulates the sound of Iago’s soliloquy in order to present Iago’s scheming to the audience. Iago’s soliloquy is largely written in Iambic pentameters. The regular on-off beat provided by the meter gives the passage a rehearsed and fluent sound, which perhaps emphasises that, to Iago, psychopathic malice is normal, and he thinks nothing of concocting an elaborate plan to destroy Othello to serve his hatred, and the collateral damage his plot will incur. The meter, however, fumbles in lines 374 and 377. Shakespeare cleverly chooses to change the beat of these lines, in which Iago contemplates how he will craft his plan, in order to create a pensive and strained sound. The delivery of these lines thus conveys to the audience that Iago is really thinking about how best to take down Othello; the change in beat is vital here to create a realistic sound and to prevent Iago’s soliloquy from sounding too rehearsed. In line 382, Shakespeare chooses to disrupt the use of Iambic Pentameter again, and adds an extra syllable to the end of an iambic pentameter. This sounds odd to the audience who by this stage have been conditioned to expect the line to have a regular beat like majority of lines before it. Shakespeare chooses to add an extra syllable to the end of an iambic pentameter, creating an extra beat at the end of the line, in order to foreshadow the unexpected blow Iago will deliver to Othello later in the play.

Finally, through the use of the term ‘monstrous birth’, Shakespeare presents Iago as twisted. ‘Monstrous birth’ is a paradox. ‘Birth’ is generally associated with joy, new life and youth, whilst the word ‘monstrous’ connotes something gruesome, evil and deathly. Through use of this paradox, Shakespeare seems to be suggesting to the audience that, to Iago, the word ‘birth’ has connotations of evil and malice, not connotations of happiness, and thus suggests to the audience that his psyche is twisted in such a way that all he can comprehend is wicked, and he has little, if any, understanding of joy.

Thus in this way, Shakespeare manipulates language, sound and structure in order to establish Iago as ‘Othello’s’ antagonist, and presents him as an evil and malicious character whom the audience are conditioned to fear.