1. Have you ever experienced a little lie that gets blown out of proportion and
continues to expand and hurt the people that are supposed to be able to count on you?
You continue to tell those tales just so that you can fulfill your fleshy desires. Iago is very
clever man who in the Shakespearean play “Othello” is a prime example of a person who
lies and cheats to gain higher positions and will do it at any means necessary.
Iago in this tragic play is the biggest con artist that I have ever read about. He
wants get money and he wants a higher rank into the Venetian army. The general of this
army is Othello who is a Moor or black man. He marries Desdemona, who is a white girl
who is the daughter of the senator Brabantio. Rodrigo is a bizarre and peculiar man who
is madly in love with Desdemona and is outraged that Othello is with her instead of
himself and will drown himself if he doesn’t get with Desdemona. Rodrigo is so
desperate that he asks Iago to help them hook-up. Iago uses his cunning ways and
Rodrigo’s stupidity to use this as an opportunity to gain wealth by telling Rodrigo to “put
money in thy purse.” Iago uses a persuasive technique against Rodrigo to get something
out of him.
When Othello marries Desdemona his first gift to her is a handkerchief given to
him by an African king in his home country. Iago tries to get Othello to come to the
understanding that his wife is cheating on him with his lieutenant Cassio who is
perceived to be a “ladies man,” in this play. Iago uses his conniving genius to ensure
Othello’s state of mind that his innocent wife is now cheating on him. Iago explains to
Othello that he saw Cassio wipe his beard with the silky handkerchief that Othello gave
to his wife, Desdemona as a symbol that the only way that he could have gotten the
handkerchief is that if he slept with Desdemona. Iago uses another form of bamboozling

2. against Othello by providing evidence to support what he is claiming to be true. Iago also
tells Othello about the time that they were at war. Iago tells Othello that he and Cassio
were sleeping in a tent together. He continues to say that he could not go to sleep because
he had a tooth ache, but Cassio was sleeping like a baby. Othello is still skeptical on what
he should believe, but Iago tells him that while they were in the tent Cassio muttered
“Sweet Desdemona, let us be wary, let us hide our loves.” Cassio used his cunning ways
once again to tell his wife who is Desdemona’s maid to steal the handkerchief him so he
can once again trick somebody for his own benefit. Othello believes this because he can
recall the time that they were at war and he believes in Iago’s reputation, “Honest Iago”.
Othello wants proof that Cassio is sleeping with his wife. Cassio is walking
towards Iago and Othello so Iago with his quick thinking tells Othello to hide while he
gets Cassio to admit to this. Iago talks to Cassio while Othello is hiding. Cassio thinks he
is talking about a prostitute Bianca, but Iago is so smart that he gets Cassio to talk about
Bianca and makes it seem as if he is talking about Desdemona. This angers Othello
deeply so he tells Iago to kill Cassio and he then Othello anoints Iago as his lieutenant.
Iago has now used his treacherous doings to escalate his way through the ranks and now
has achieved one of his goals by lying and deceiving his way to his goals. This works
because Othello wanted to hear out of Cassio’s mouth that he was sleeping with wife and
Iago arranged it so that could be so.
Othello is so outraged and conflicted with himself that he kills his wife,
Desdemona. Emilia who is Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s servant figures out what is
going on and tells Othello that Iago told her to get the handkerchief for him, but it is too
late Iago has already gotten the crazed Rodrigo to kill Cassio for him. This is another

3. example of Iago’s quick thinking and ability to control someone else’s actions by what he
says. Iago is able to get this plan to work because he is telling Rodrigo that he is able to
get with Desdemona, but Cassio is involved with her now and if you could get her out the
picture then you would surely be with Desdemona your love in the next 48 hours.
Desdemona’s come into town and they see Othello slap Desdemona and they ask,
does he act this way toward her. Iago answers yes, if you think that’s something you
should see what he does when you are not around. Iago is able to say this because Othello
is a black man and in their society they usually think that all black people are wild
barbarians.
Othello ends up killing Emilia for sticking up for Desdemona. Then Othello
unfortunately takes his own life. At the end of the play I think that Iago was once again
able to use his smarts and quick thinking ability to get himself out of a bad a situation
into a good situation once and for all.
Iago is so good at lying because he tells people what they want to hear. For
instance he tells Rodrigo that he is going to get with Desdemona. He is able to lie to
Othello because there is a perception that all women from Venice are whores. He also
uses Othello’s skin color against him by saying why would she be faithful to a black
man? She can have any other man that she wanted to. Iago tells Desdemona that Othello
has other reasons to be acting like he is. He tells Desdemona that he is just stressed from
other ordeals and has nothing to do with you. Iago is able to deceive Cassio because of
his job position. Iago uses Emilia’s position in society as a woman to tell her to steal the
handkerchief for him because she has to be obedient to him.