a Marxist-Feminist critic might argue that the use of ‘your’ when describing Desdemona reflects the commodification of woman in Jacobean era. Iago’s animal imagery with ‘ram’ and ‘ewe’ reflect the Jacobean link between black people and the animalistic. Iago calls Othello ‘the devil’ despite Othello’s Christian faith: black people were seen as sinful and corrupt (as shown in Reginald Scott’s 1584 book: The Discovery of Witchcraft). Iago plays on the Jacobean stereotype of ‘black’ virulency: a bestial, hyper-sexuality, sparking Barbantio’s fears – as of many fathers of the time – that a black man would seduce his pure, white daughter: ‘ewe’ is a lamb. ‘an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe…the devil will make a grandsire of you’ – Iago use of paradox emphasises Iago’s deceit, with his ‘outward’ self contradicting his inner motivations Iago justifies his deceitfulness by blaming Othello’s mistreatment of him, echoing critic Charles Lamb: ‘we think not so much of the crimes…as of the…intellectual activity which prompts them to overleap those moral fences’: Iago finds a way to justify his deceit and Jacobean obsession with personal revenge that Shakespeare thought stood in the way of civility (in Romeo and Juliet, all young men – save Benvolio – are killed)Īn inversion of the Bible’s Exodus: ‘I am what I am’, indicative of Iago as the devil. Iago tells Roderigo he only serves Othello for a chance at revenge: reputation was priority in Jacobean times, where revenge was seen as a duty if reputation were threatened. ‘I follow him to serve my turn upon him’ – Iago Marxist reading: Iago’s hate for Othello is symbolic of the class struggle, where Iago is passed for promotion over the higher class Cassio Iago gives different reasons for hating Othello throughout the play: is only trying to manipulate Roderigo. Iago blames his hate for Othello on his choosing of younger, less experienced Cassio as lieutenant simply for his higher class. ‘Michael Cassio, a Florentine…Mere prattle without practice…had the election’ – Iago
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