Iago then immediately orders Roderigo to go ‘make money’, which further emphasizes Iago’s superiority. Roderigo’s indecision has made him ‘weak’. This boldly tells the audience that Iago is the decision maker in this duo, as he is making an important decision for Roderigo, whether to trust Iago or not. He starts by telling Roderigo how he feels towards Iago, “Thou art sure of me”, leaving no room for Roderigo to question him. In his first speech, Iago seems very controlling over Roderigo he starts his speech by two consecutive gestures implicating that he is the superior character in the scenario. The passage then ends with Roderigo leaving the stage, leaving Iago alone to recite a soliloquy, revealing his true emotions to the audience for the first time. Roderigo wants revenge because Othello is married to Desdemona, the woman Roderigo is madly in love with. Iago wants revenge because Othello gave the promotion of lieutenant to Cassio instead of him. Examine one of the lines from the above speech and count the syllables it contains.In this passage, Iago is trying to persuade Roderigo that they both have a common enemy, Othello, and that they should work together in their revenge against him. The rhythm of this pattern of speech is often compared to a beating heart. Iambic pentameter is defined as a ten-syllable line with the accent on the every other syllable, beginning with the second one. The pattern most favored by Shakespeare is iambic pentameter. Blank verse contains no rhyme, but each line has an internal rhythm with a regular rhythmic pattern. That she repeals him for her body’s lust Īnd by how much she strives to do him good,

They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,Īnd she for him pleads strongly to the Moor, When devils will the blackest sins put on, Later after having sorted out his whole plan to destroy Othello, Desdemona, and Cassio’s lives Iago once again revels in his wickedness to the audience in verse: Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light. That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, In double knavery - How, how? Let’s see:. If I would time expend with such a snipe.īut for my sport and profit. Iago: Thus do I ever make my fool my purse:įor I mine own gain’d knowledge should profane, There are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him: if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. Iago: Thou art sure of me: - go, make money: - I have told thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor: my cause is hearted thine hath no less reason. With his seamless transition into elegant verse, ending with subtle rhymes, we can feel and hear his clever and devious nature through his words. Later he tells the audience of his true plans. By speaking in prose he sounds frank and open and his plan simple. Instead he tells Rodrigo to use all his money to win Desdemona from Othello and Cassio. His snakelike sliding in and out of speech patterns mirrors his ability to camouflage his nature to best suit his purpose.Īt the close of Act 1 Iago uses prose to convince Rodrigo not to kill himself. Whether wishing to be seen as a respectable advisor, humble servant, or a common solider Iago is a master chameleon of speech. In Othello Iago makes remarkable use of prose and verse as he manipulates those around him. For example, the majority of The Merry Wives of Windsor is written in prose because it deals with the middle-class. However, some times important characters can speak in prose. These are characters such as criminals, servants, and pages. Normally, when a character in a play speaks in prose, you know that he is a lower class member of society. Shakespeare’s audiences would recognize the speech as their language. Prose is the form of speech used by common, and often comic, people in Shakespearean drama. In Othello prose is less common than verse.

One idea that may help is to remember that his plays are written in two forms: prose and verse. However, if you understand more about his language, it is easier to understand.

They accuse him of not speaking English and refuse to believe that ordinary people spoke the way his characters do. Many students-and adults, for that matter-find Shakespeare difficult to read and hard to understand.

Roderigo othello