624
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure. (11.2)
PARTISAN REVIEW
He wants to be equal because he cannot endure Othello's superiority;
and
if
it cannot be accomplished "wife for wife," Othello must
be
pulled down to Iago's own miserable level, "into a jealousy so strong
that judgment cannot cure." He must cease to
be
Othello, the
"most dear husband" of Desdemona. He must be destroyed-and
preferably in a manner entailing her destruction and Cassio's as well.
It is lago rather than Othello that is pictured with the most uncanny
psychological penetration, for the Moor's conduct hardly requires
any similar analysis.
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest, that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose,
As asses are-
thus Iago describes him at the end of the first act; and seeing that
Othello assumes Iago's honesty without the slightest doubt, he can–
not fail to
be
persuaded by the overwhelming evidence of Desde–
mona's illicit relation with Cassio with which Iago confronts him. He
then consents to Cassio's death and himself smothers Desdemona.
If
this were all there is to the drama, it would be superb theater,
distinguished by the incredibly keen characterization of Iago and the
magnificent poetry of some of the speeches. This would be sufficient
to ensure the play a high rank, but it has yet another dimension.
To begin with Iago. His scheme is motivated, but the full mag–
nitude of
his
wickedness is unaccounted for. Since he is so villainous,
the motives outlined here make his behavior plausible; but no at–
tempt is made to explain his initially evil nature, without which all
these provocations could not have occasioned such diabolical actions.
Perhaps this is even underscored in the last scene:
I look down towards his feet;- but that's a fable:
If that thou be'st a de vil, I cannot kill thee.
And in the last lines of the play he is again referred to as a "hellish
villain." A modern writer might well have been tempted to carry
the psychological motivation beyond the point where Shakespeare
stopped. Yet
this
is not a fault of Shakespeare's art, but an important
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