Othello (Vol. 35) | Leslie Y. Rabkin and Jeffrey Brown (essay date 1973)
Leslie Y. Rabkin and Jeffrey Brown (essay date 1973)
SOURCE: "Some Monster in His Thought: Sadism and Tragedy in Othello," in Literature and Psychology, Vol. XXIII, No. 2, 1973, pp. 59-66.
[In the essay below, Rabkin and Brown argue that feelings of helpessness and hopelessness exercise a deciding influence over the behavior of both Iago and Othello.]
The character and motives of Iago have long been a source of contention and bewilderment among the commentators on Othello. Hazlitt suggested that Iago's "gaiety, such as it is, arises from the success of his treachery; his ease from the torture he has inflicted on others," and noted his "desire of finding out the worst side of everything."1 Coleridge extended this observation through his suggestion that Iago's need for berating others is rooted in his fear that others will berate him.2
Lacking, however, in the analyses of Hazlitt, Stoll, Shaw and...
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