ABSTRACT
Iago, Oth, husband of Emilia, the manipulative villain who leads Othello to the murder of Desdemona. He is one of Sh.'s most fascinating characters, clearly a literary cousin of Richard III, who is generally seen by the people around him as good and honest, but who leads people to their doom because of their own weaknesses. Only his wife seems to see him clearly although she does not recognize his plot until it is too late. His evil seems motiveless to many critics, although there is a clear susceptibility to envy in him when Cassio is promoted and there is an elusive line (2.3.298) which suggests he thinks Othello has slept with his wife. If this is intend ed, it is underdeveloped. In Sh.'s time, audiences may not have been as concerned with motive as much as they are now.
