Iago's Motivation In Othello

In contrast to Paris’ and West’s ideas, my third critic ‘Shakespearean tragedy: lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth’ by A.C. Bradley describes Iago’s motivation as his ‘fear of another man’s getting the better of him’. Bradley also states that Iago was jealous of Othello’s life and felt the need to ruin many aspects of it because he wanted a sense of “power and superiority” over Othello. This could be the motivation for what Iago has done because he had always worked and been below Othello in the social hierarchy. Bradley believes that the most delightful things to Iago would be ‘the triumphant exertion of his abilities’ and ‘the excitement of danger’. Bradley believes that Iago’s desires were restrained under ordinary circumstances.
Bradly believes that Iago is a villain, but he is not evil, and his actions are derived from: "...the keen sense of superiority, the contempt of others, the sensitiveness to everything which wounds these feelings, the spite against goodness in men as a thing not only stupid but, both in its nature and by its success, contrary to Iago's nature and irritating to his pride...Othello's eminence, Othello's goodness, and his own dependence on Othello, must have been a perpetual annoyance to him.”
Bradley has divided Iago's motives into three, and it is worth exploring them in more depth: “Iago's longing to satisfy the sense of power is, I think, the strongest of the forces that drive him on. But there are two others to be noticed. One is the pleasure in an action very difficult and perilous and, therefore, intensely exciting...He feels the delight of one who executes successfully a feat thoroughly congenial to his special aptitude, and only just within his compass; and as he is fearless by nature, the fact that a single slip will cost him his life only increases his