There is no doubt that the eternal drama of Othello arouses deep feelings of mourn and regret in everyone who knows the story and sympathizes with the characters. The main participants of the drama are surely Othello, the ambitious and passionate moor who believed the wicked lies of his subordinate and killed the beloved woman, and Desdemona, his wife who loved him strongly and was to naive and happy to understand that the tragedy was approaching. However, when one conducts the analysis of Othello, it is easy to see that there is one more important and complex character that is actually the drive of the plot, without which nothing would have happened. Iago is the main reason for the tragedy that came into the classical literature and all events took place.

The role of Iago should never be underestimated because he was the major instigator, plotter and traitor of his master. He was so full of evil that he let his master kill an innocent woman; more than that, he motivated Othello to do this, intensifying the gossip against innocent people, Cassio and Desdemona, which cannot be explained in rational terms even in modern times. Nonetheless, it is too simplistic to state that Iago was doing this only because he was a necessary element of the plot and he represented the detail without which the tragedy would not have occurred. It seems evident that the character of Iago was much deeper than it may originally seem; for this reason he requires separate analysis to understand the realm of intrinsic motives that guided him on the path of destruction and murder by other people’s hands.

There are multiple theories of Iago’s motivation, and each of them has the right to exist due to lack of prevailing support for any of them. The first motive discussed in critical literature is the absence of any motives – Iago is just an amoral character who cannot find a faithful path in life and subdues to his innate dark passions. Some other reasons named are his envy towards Othello because of his leading position, the social roots of inequality that touch upon the strings of Iago’s ambitious soul, racism, and even jealousy because of Othello’s possible love affair with his wife. One more approach popular in criticism of Othello is to view Iago as evil embodied in a person (typical for Shakespeare’s works). Top identify support for each issue, one should review the plot thoroughly to find the guiding lines for each judgment.

The first passage that makes the reader aware of the hidden envy and disrespect of Iago towards Othello is as follows:

We cannot all be Masters, nor all Masters

Can be truely follow’d…

Were I the Moore, I would not be Iago:

In following him, I follow but my selfe…

…I am not what I am (I, i, 47-71).

These words obviously show the ill intent of Iago and absence of respect and owe towards the master he has; at the same time Iago tries to persuade his interlocutor, Rodrigo, and the reader that he is satisfied with his position of an inferior because in other way he would not have been able to achieve his vicious goals. He aims at the destruction of his master through a wicked plan, so he thinks over his scheme and wants to show that even a tiny subordinate can destroy the grand figure with the help of his secret, personal passions.

As it comes from the analysis, Iago treats Othello and especially his superior rank very negatively – here the social class theory of Iago’s hatred is revealed. He initially tries to persuade Brabantio in the ill intent of Othello concerning his daughter, but here he fails – Othello and Desdemona prove that they are happy together, and the outcome of this scene is positive for them.