Iago and Mosca - a Study in Evil
“A STUDY IN EVIL - IAGO VS MOSCA”
William Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist of his time, personifies evil through the character of Iago in his play ‘Othello’. The play was first performed around 1604-05 and printed in 1622. Whereas Ben Jonson, one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, portrays a similar character through Mosca in his play ‘Volpone’ which was first performed in the year 1605.
Iago has a mysterious character. He is quiet and yet alluring. “Shakespeare [himself] was obviously fascinated by the man-he gave Iago more lines than any other character in his work-more than Hamlet, King Lear, or Othello.” [1]
Mosca on the other hand portrays a different kind of evil. He is never quiet but always playing an active part in the game. Iago and Mosca are the devil incarnate. While the malevolence of these two men follows the same path through the majority of their respective plays, their very different personalities are revealed once their treachery is unveiled.
The plots are affected mainly through their actions. They put thoughts into the brains of the rest of the characters, who become puppets in their hands. Some characters in Elizabethan drama are just infinitely bad; they were born that way. Keeping in view this point, we can say that Iago and Mosca need no motive. They just love to see people suffer and adore authority; therefore, they cannot even imagine any other individual commanding them. They both have almost the similar motivations, that is, they want to gain power and the one tactful weapon they have is the use of persuasive speech. They use their excellent rhetoric to exploit the human psychology.
Iago is jealous of the people and their power around him. In the play he expresses openly his jealousy of Cassio and Othello. He is jealous of Cassio 's job and of Othello 's success as a soldier and with Desdemona. He only professes his desire for revenge and power in the initial speeches. In the opening scene of Othello, Iago explains to
William Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist of his time, personifies evil through the character of Iago in his play ‘Othello’. The play was first performed around 1604-05 and printed in 1622. Whereas Ben Jonson, one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, portrays a similar character through Mosca in his play ‘Volpone’ which was first performed in the year 1605.
Iago has a mysterious character. He is quiet and yet alluring. “Shakespeare [himself] was obviously fascinated by the man-he gave Iago more lines than any other character in his work-more than Hamlet, King Lear, or Othello.” [1]
Mosca on the other hand portrays a different kind of evil. He is never quiet but always playing an active part in the game. Iago and Mosca are the devil incarnate. While the malevolence of these two men follows the same path through the majority of their respective plays, their very different personalities are revealed once their treachery is unveiled.
The plots are affected mainly through their actions. They put thoughts into the brains of the rest of the characters, who become puppets in their hands. Some characters in Elizabethan drama are just infinitely bad; they were born that way. Keeping in view this point, we can say that Iago and Mosca need no motive. They just love to see people suffer and adore authority; therefore, they cannot even imagine any other individual commanding them. They both have almost the similar motivations, that is, they want to gain power and the one tactful weapon they have is the use of persuasive speech. They use their excellent rhetoric to exploit the human psychology.
Iago is jealous of the people and their power around him. In the play he expresses openly his jealousy of Cassio and Othello. He is jealous of Cassio 's job and of Othello 's success as a soldier and with Desdemona. He only professes his desire for revenge and power in the initial speeches. In the opening scene of Othello, Iago explains to
Bibliography: • The Illustrated Stratford Shakespeare [Chancellor Press 1993] • [1], [3] www.cliffsnotes.com • [2], [4] www.gradesaver.com