How Does Iago Persuade Othello Essay -- essays research papers

In Act 3 Scene 3, how does Iago persuade Othello of Desdemona’s supposed infidelity? Act 3 Scene 3 is, arguably, the most important scene in the entire play, for it is the point of no return. It is as if for the entire beginning of the play you were pushing a huge boulder up a steep mountain, and in this scene you reach the top, and push it down the other side, helpless to stop it. This is how I see the action in Othello. Iago spends the whole time plotting, and conspiring with the audience, and in this scene you can actually pinpoint the line where he finally pushes Othello over the edge. Iago manages this in several ways, through imagery, ‘sewing the seed’ in Othello’s mind, and reverse psychology. However all of these ways boil down to one thing, Iago, throughout the play, plays on Othello’s own insecurities about race, and Desdemona. Iago’s language throughout the scene is very rich and amazingly descriptive so much so that it actually acts as a projector, projecting vivid, clear pictures into the audience’s, and more importantly, Othello’s mind. This is more evident in the later part of the scene, and there is one particular speech I wish to isolate. Iago’s speech, lines 407 to 423, is where the richest image is created in the scene. He is describing a night through which he lay with Cassio, and witnessed a so-called dream. In this dream, Cassio is meant to have said “S...