nin137

Nick's Journal
2006-04-21 00:19:08 (UTC)

Iago

if there were one villain i wish i could be it would have to
be Iago from Othello. not only does the name just kick some
fucking ass, but this is the most perfect villainous
creation of all time (from masta shake nonetheless).
if you don't know what Othello is about then you're a
fucking uncultured idiot. they even made a movie called "O"
for our generation. story goes like this:
a successful Moor 'Othello' (i.e. black-person) is the lead
general of an army (in the movie he is the lead in a
basketball team, not to feed stereotypes or anything); and
there is Iago who loathes him for he has everything he wants.
now don't get me wrong. go see "O" by all means, i think it
is a splended movie (mainly beause you can't fuck this story
up). josh hartnett hit the top of my male actors chart with
this movie by the way.
so Iago devises a diabolical scheme. he essentially gets
Othello to believe that his devoted girlfriend is
un-faithful. he creates these elaborate scenarios to sucker
Othello into it all; all the while acting as Othello's best
friend.
really the whole scheme is quite simplistic and you just
wonder to yourself:
"well why the fuck doesn't Othello just talk to his girl?"
see that's the beauty in the villainy here that shakespeare
just steroided out of the ball-park. human nature is a
barrier to logically solving anything.
Iago beautifully plays Othello against his very own ego
(only Othello believes he is at war with his girl). the
realy villainy behind Iago's genius is that he uses the
power of suggestion. he merely plants subtitle (completed
fabricated) links which, as Othello finally confronts his
girl, overwhelm any form of rationality his girl can muster
to save her own life.
Iago is the most masterful villain because he is amoral; not
immoral. he is so completely devoid of morality that it
can't even hinder his very scheme. where others may need to
act immorally and deal with cognitive dissonance, this never
perturbs Iago.
the best part of all of this is that Iago is finally exposed
in the end (but only after he has sealed Othello's demise).
the absolute captivating scene is where he is dragged off
for torture in shakespeare's novel (jail in the movie).
he goes quietly.
the ultimate exit for a villain. not a sniffling repentance
as they are laid upon the table to get poison injected into
their veins, and no babbling excuses as the noose is
fastened around their necks. this is the ultimate villain.
sooooooooooo,
if i could be one villian in all of fictitious literature,
it would be Iago.




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