Iago in Othello

One of the most intriguing characters in the tragic play "Othello," by William Shakespeare, is Othello's "friend" Iago. Iago is the central villain in the play and deliberately tries to cause trouble for Othello. The play opens with Iago beginning to conspire with Rodrigo, a simple-minded man in love with Desdemona, with only Iago’s hatred for Othello given as a reason for destruction. However, the audience is not informed for the reasons for his hatred. On a surface level, his hatred could be just accepted as his character being evil and a villain and thus he need no motivation. However, such a villain would distract from the impact of the play and would be unoriginal. Shakespeare to add depth to his villain makes him amoral, as opposed to the typical immoral villain. Despite Iago's unquestionable malignancy, the motivation behind his actions lie more in his quest for personal gain, as opposed to just being evil for evil's sake. In order to achieve his personal gain Iago mani...