Iago from Shakespeare

Ricardo Gimenez Britez
Dr. Casie Hermansson
English 320
29 May 2012
The “trusted” advisor
Iago is the main antagonist character of Shakespeare’s “Othello, the Moor of Venice” also Othello’s ally, Iago is married to Emilia, who is an assistant to Othello’s wife, Desdemona. The story tell us that Iago hates Othello for some reason the readers don’t know, so he plans to get closer to Othello, therefore gain his trust and destroy him by saying that his wife is having an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassio, which it is a lie. As soon as Othello marries Desdemona we realize that Iago hates Othello and want him to suffer.
This play would have not fulfill readers satisfaction if Iago wasn’t in it. Iago is one of the most important characters of this play, if not, the most important character. He is the masterpiece of the play, without Iago this story would have never been this successful. What makes this story richer is the way of thinking of Iago, for example, how he planned everything and it worked so flawlessly, that is one reason why Iago is important to this play. Second, is how Iago studied everyone’s weakness and strengths and used it to his own benefit, for example, Desdemona strength was that she was a really good friend so he knew that when Michael Cassio ask her to talk to Othello to get his job back as a Lieutenant, she would have been very insistent to Othello and that would have cause Othello to believe what Iago said to him. Third, is the way in which he gradually started to implant the doubt that Desdemona was unfaithful in Othello’s mind, for example when he says “Look to your wife; observe her with Cassio”, that was the moment when Othello started to suspect. Fourth reason is the way he manage to manipulate Othello a very strong person, a man who was not weak into make terrible decisions. Fifth motive and most importantly how he convinced Othello that Desdemona was disloyal, how he manages Othello to believe his lie. Also, how persuasive Iago is, for example, when he ask Emilia, his wife, to steal the handkerchief from Desdemona and she does that. Those are some reason why Iago makes this story superior, with his capability of manipulate people and the way he thinks.
Iago is a very wisdom man and that it is what makes this play very enjoyable. He is very important to the play because without him there wouldn’t have been any drama or it would have never been so tragic the way it is. This character is very complicated and that’s what it makes it so exciting, because you never know what’s coming next, what is his next plan. Iago is that type of character you want to know what is he thinking all time, what is inside his head, also the character that makes you think and question yourself, for example, why is he planning to destroy Othello? Why he hate him so much? Is it because of his jealousness? Or because he is an evil person and wants people to suffer?. We don’t know much about Iago’s reasons, although we know Iago has no good intentions. Still, Iago gives to the play more suspense and drama than any other character.

Leaving behind the play, the amazing thing about pictures is that in a book you are imagining what you are reading but in a film you are watching what you were reading, and also a picture gives you more details that you might not have perceive it while you were reading the book, there have been many cinematographic adaptations of “Othello, the Moor of Venice”, one of them is directed by Oliver Parker in 1995 in which Kenneth Branagh takes on the character Iago. He interprets a very difficult and challenging character, which is Iago, and he does a pleasant job by giving him credibility and uniqueness, his performance was so excellent that you can actually think that Iago would have been exactly like that if he existed. His interpretation makes Iago to come alive, we see that as soon as Act 3 in the cinematographic adaptations begins, we see Othello and Iago going downstairs, is really impressive how the director adapt the movement of the character and the shots, to what is happening in the movie, let me explain what this means, as I was saying, at the beginning of Act 3 in the movie when Iago is leading they are going downwards and at the same time he is slowly trying to implant the doubt that Desdemona is unfaithful to Othello, so we know that everything is wrong. We can see how the director uses Iago movements in a way to reflect that when Othello listens to Iago, everthing is going down. So this works perfectly because we know Iago wants to destroy Othello and it helps also to understand his character too, that everything is erroneous when you follow and listen to Iago. The director also demonstrates in some shots Iago’s finality, which is to enclose Othello in a cage of jealousy and doubt, and we can see that in some takes of the adaptation, one example is when Othello and Iago are fighting with spears and Desdemona is watching the fight on a balcony, there are some moments when they are fighting that it looks like Othello is in a cage, which displays Iago finality. There are more shots that demonstrates this also throughout the movie (Othello behind bars) and help us understand Iago’s character and what is his final objective. There are other scenes in the movie that it reveals a little of Iago’s personality so we can understand him better, in some scenes we can see him but the other character can’t see him, let me develop this more closely, in a take from the movie for example, when both Iago and Othello are in the bedroom, Iago continuous to poison Othello with the idea that Desdemona is cheating him, in a moment Iago leaves the room, so Othello think Iago is gone so he starts to talk to himself and then he starts to cry and we can see Iago looking at Othello behind him, he sees Othello as he is seeing and admiring his own painting in progress, we see in that moment that his plan is working. That scene fits completely because it helps to show that whatever Iago wants he achieves it.
In some scenes of the movie, we can see how Othello and Iago are talking very closely, as if they were about to kiss, or in another part when Iago says to Othello “I am your own…forever” while he is hugging Othello, we can see on his expression that he really meant what he said. This adaptation of “Othello, the Moor of Venice” help us to question what could be a reason for why Iago wants to destroy Othello, and by looking at some scenes we can suppose that Iago might be in love with Othello. This movie helps the viewer to understand a little more the character of Iago, and gave us a possible reason for his actions, because he might be extremely jealous.

Another adaptation of “Othello, the Moor of Venice” is the 1965 directed by Stuart Burge. When you watch this movie you feel like you are watching a play, because of the settings and that everything happens in the same place. You can infer that at that time there were a lot of technological limitations, also the way people act was not efficient, they exaggerate the way of acting. Comparing to the Parker’s Othello, you find a enormous difference in every way, because it is a 1965 picture and we talk about a 30 years old difference. In this adaptation of Othello, Frank Finlay, takes the part of Iago, and he doesn’t do justice to what Iago is all about, when we see Kenneth’s interpretation of Iago in 1995 Othello, we see how he brings to life to Iago with his performance, we can feel Iago’s rage and intentions against Othello in the way he speaks and even on his face expressions, is brilliant Kenneth’s transformation in this adaptation of Othello, but the Frank’s interpretation of Iago in 1965’s Othello leaves much to be desired, his interpretation is quite the opposite of 95’s Othello, he doesn’t connect to the character Iago, his acting is poor because you can’t feel Iago’s hate to Othello and he doesn’t gives to much to the character.
Speaking in the way it was directed, we can say it was quite alike to the Parker’s Othello, how the director adapt the movement of the characters and the shots, to what is happening in the movie, for example, there are scenes in which Iago is leading and everything is going downwards, or another example, when we see Iago behind Othello and that demonstrates back-stabbing. So comparing in that way, we can say is quite alike, but of course there are many details that I’m not considering because I’m focusing only on Iago.
What the director doesn’t do in this adaptation is to add some details so we can understand more Iago as a character; in the Parker’s film we have many of these, but in this adaptation that lacked, some scenes that will help the audience to get to know better Iago, but in this film that was absent.
The Parker’s film gave clues or doubts to what really could be the reason of Iago’s hate to Othello, but in this film they did not do this, they didn’t give a clue to what could be a reason of Iago’s hate to Othello.
So when we compare both adaptations of Othello we can see how different they are (even though it have some similarities), and how “time” made the adaptations improve so much in so many ways. The way of acting, for example, Frank Finlay acted in a more theatrical way, than Kenneth’s interpretation. When you compare the way of acting of both you can see how much has improved over time, becoming more real so the audience could relate a little more to the characters.
I personally did not felt Finlay performance; I didn’t find it exciting as Kenneth’s performance because he added more drama and more tension, which Finlay didn’t accomplish. Also as I was reading the play of Othello I felt so much suspense with the character of Iago because I didn’t know what his next plan was, and I felt the same way as I was watching Kenneth’s performance and I felted even more because of his expressions and the way he talks were invaluable. And I didn’t feel that way as I was watching Finlay’s performance which was quite disappointing. Finlay’s way of acting may have impressed the audience back then, but now that there have been many adaptations of Othello, specially, first class performance of Kenneth, it may not impress the spectators today.