"Though in the trade of war I have slain men,/Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience/To do no contriv'd murderÂ…" (Othello, I ii 1-3). While Iago claims that he could commit no murder, it is made clear to any reader that while he physically does not outwardly do any harm any character under the presumed pretense of murder that he has indeed brought about the death of two characters, and, in the case of Roderigo, has murdered under the pretense of aiding Cassio. While "Coleridge comments on [Iago's] "motiveless malignity" (Gilchrist 1), any two year-old can see that he is chock-full of motive, though admittedly it would take a more advanced mind to more completely understand the depth of his motives. Motives aside, Iago is one of the more likable characters in Othello.
Iago, villain of villains, is initially portrayed as a very jealous and spiteful man (Othello, I i 8-33), a man of "open and palpable villainy (Bloom 56), and throughout the play, the reader's view of him......
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