Chaps. 24-26 Summary and Analysis

Othello

pp. 432-475

The critic William Hazlitt views the center of the play Othello to be the character Iago. Iago's love of power makes him use his genius to spread chaos and death, which then leads to his own death. The critic W. H. Auden finds Iago to be the ultimate practical joker. Shakespeare's Iago has a strong influence on the poet John Milton's construction of the character Satan. Critic A. C. Bradley sees Othello as a dumb, bestial figure who is easily manipulated, and thinks that if the character Hamlet had had to confront Iago, Hamlet would have easily figured out Iago's schemes. In the play Othello, Iago might have totally triumphed in the destruction of Othello and Othello's wife Desdemona, if it were not for Iago's wife Emilia's unexpected exposure of Iago.

Othello is a tragic heroic...