In William Shakespeare's Othello, the deceitful Iago weaves an intricate web of lies with which he traps Othello along with his many other victims. His manipulation of other characters, the machinations that serve as the driving force behind the plot, and the cunning staging of various scenes in the play not only make him the fascinating villain of the play, but also reveal that he plays the roles of surrogate playwright of the work, director and prompter. While Shakespeare's use of theatrical language highlights Iago's multiple theatrical roles and influence in the play, the resulting dramatic self-referentiality provides him with an avenue through which he can step outside the realm of the play and deceive the public just as he deceives Othello, Cassio and others. himself; thus, Iago reasserts himself as the villain of the play. At the same time, it undermines the appearance of power that Iago possesses because it reinforces the fact that Iago is simply another fictional character in the play who lacks the will to be able to control his future just like all the other characters. A character who rebels against authority, Iago refuses to submit to another and seeks, even when all hope is lost, to reaffirm his power through silence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Often in the play, Iago uses the characteristic language of a playwright as he plots what will happen next in the action of the play's events. While standing alone before Cyprian Castle, Iago soliloquys: "Now, 'among this herd of drunkards / Must we set our Cassio in some action / That may offend the isle" (II.iii.55-57 ). Since "action" can refer to an exciting flurry of events, Iago's statement may mean that he will prepare Cassio so that a lively, action-packed scene will ensue; however, "action" can also refer to the unfolding of events in a drama. That Iago specifically states that he will "put... Cassio into some action", coupled with his extraordinary awareness of being a character in a play and the fact that only the playwright has the privilege of devising the plot and inserting the characters into it, suggests that he is a surrogate playwright. Furthermore, Iago writes future scenes throughout the play and is able to predict future events and predict the reactions of other characters with uncanny accuracy and certainty. For example, Iago plans what will happen when he questions Cassio about Bianca: "While [Cassio] shall smile, Othello shall go mad, / And his bookless jealousy shall conster / Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light bearings / Quite in the wrong" (IV.i.100-103). “Shall” expresses inevitability and thus conveys Iago's confidence in his prediction, making it unlikely that this is simply a conjecture by one of the play's characters about how the plot will unfold. His ability to predict future events and the confidence with which he makes these predictions suggest that he is a surrogate writer for the play, as only the playwright has the knowledge of what will happen in the future. Since "must" can also be interpreted as a directive, it may be a little strange that Iago uses the word while speaking to himself, but with this word Iago outlines his own actions that will determine the course of future events. His predictions are so accurate that they can be used as a script for what will happen in the scenes that follow. Thus, his language, ability to predict events with confidence, and machinations that advance the plot all serve to portray Iago as a surrogate playwright. Even though he directs the actions of the other characters, the other characters also directhim, thus placing him in a position in which he simultaneously plays the part of actor and director. When Desdemona and Cassio talk to each other on board the ship bound for Cyprus, Iago watches them and remarks: "even now you are again very fit / to play the lord. Very well! well kissed! and excellent / Courtesy! It is just so. Once again your fingers on your lips? (II.i.173-176). In the play he conceived in his mind, Iago has chosen Cassio - although Cassio does not know it - as Desdemona's courtier and secret lover with whom he has an affair, praising and criticizing Cassio's actions as if he were an actor in his own play, Iago watches the scene carefully and comments as a director supervising rehearsals would. However, Cassio's first action is to palm Desdemona which initiates Iago's commentary; thus, in a sense, Cassio ironically directs Iago's actions just as Iago directs his own. Therefore, while choosing the people in certain parts of his play and supervising the rehearsals, Iago simultaneously plays the part of both director and actor. Helping the other actors with their roles, Iago also acts as a surrogate prompter. When Barbanzio orders the assistants to capture Othello and bring him under their control by force if necessary, Othello remarks, "If it had been my time to fight, I should have known. it / Without prompter," thus informing Barbanzio that he would not he will resist since it is not the time for him to fight in the play (I.ii.83-84). It is significant that he specifies that he does not need a cue to fight in particular, because this shows that he knows his role as a military general; in fact, he's so comfortable that he's sure he won't need the assistance of a prompter to play the part flawlessly. The use of theatrical language makes the play briefly self-referential to call attention to the fact that every play has a prompter, helping to recognize that Iago has slipped into this role, which he soon does. In contrast to the confidence he had in his acting abilities as a military general, Othello finds himself at a loss as to what action to take after finding himself in the role of the envious husband. After forcing Othello to play the part of the jealous and suspicious husband, prompting him to question Desdemona's fidelity, Iago takes on the role of surrogate prompter now that Othello needs assistance with his part, as only an actor who needs would need the assistance of a prompter to help. For example, when Othello still questions Desdemona's fidelity, Iago urges him to "Look thy wife; watch her well with Cassio; / Wear thine eyes thus, not jealous nor sure" (III.iii.197-198). With his suggestions to "watch" and "observe", Iago not only advises the audience, but also orders Othello to take on the role of the audience, even modeling how they should act. By introducing doubt into Othello's mind and then suggesting and demonstrating how he should act, Iago prods Othello to behave as a jealous husband would, just as a prompter would help an actor learn his lines and play his part effectively. Iago takes on this role of surrogate prompter to put himself in a position where he can manipulate the actions and minds of others, leading to their downfall through deception under the guise of friendship and concern. Shakespeare uses theatrical language not only to highlight Iago's multiplicity of theatrical roles, but also to thereby convey the helplessness of the characters that Iago manipulates. In Act I, Scene 1, Iago says to Roderigo, “I am not what I am” (64). This phrase resonates strongly with God's description of himself to Moses as "I AM WHOI AM" in Exodus 3:13 of the Bible, except that Iago substitutes "what" for "who." Interestingly, Iago's statement may seem awkward since "who" - not "what" - is the correct pronoun one should use to describe a person; however, this pronoun substitution may be deliberate, as with this change Iago expresses that he is not simply a character and claims to exist beyond the play Iago expresses this self-description portrays him as a sort of anti-God who has the opposite effect of that of a quota exmachina does. Just as God controls the world, Iago similarly controls the events and characters of the play The continuous suggestions of Iago about how the characters should behave, his script and the staging of the scenes yet to come, and the comments on the actions of the other characters fuel the strange feeling that the other characters in the play are fictional characters in Iago's play . This effect portrays the actors' loss of personal willpower and inability to control what will happen to them during the course of the play, as Iago's psychological and physical manipulation of them controls their actions. Furthermore, the fact that Iago portrays himself as a god further highlights their vulnerability to his whims. Ludovico's description of Othello in the last scene of Act V demonstrates the general's helplessness when he states: “O thou Othello who was once so good, / Fallen into the practice of a damned slave, / What shall I tell thee? " (291-293). The fact that Ludovico describes Iago as having fallen into a slave performance implies that Othello took on that role involuntarily and had no ability to control the events around him. Furthermore, the fact that Roderigo describes Othello as a slave calls into question who the master is; in this case it is Iago. This master-slave relationship also raises an interesting parallel relationship between an actor and a director, as both the actor and the slave are similarly subservient to a dominant director or master. Therefore, as the theatrical language shows how Iago controls the production of the play, it depicts the passivity and helplessness of the characters as Iago controls their thoughts, actions, and fate. While his machinations and actions make it easy for the audience to consider him the villain of the play, Iago uses theatrical language to challenge their characterization of him. After instructing Cassio on how to get back into Othello's good graces, Iago soliloquys: "Then what is he that says I play the villain, / When this advice is free and honest I give, / Probable in thought, and in fact the course / To win the Moro again?" (II.iii.324-327). There is an ambiguity regarding who Iago refers to with the pronoun "he". At this point in the play, none of the characters suspect Iago of his deceitful plot; the character who knows the most about Iago's true intentions and nature is Roderigo, but at this point, he too trusts Iago to help him win Desdemona for himself, not knowing that Iago will ultimately kill him. While this soliloquy may simply be a rhetorical statement, Iago can address the only group of people who know about his deception: the audience. Throughout the play, Iago shares his insidious plans in soliloquies and thus reveals his genuinely evil nature to the audience. Demonstrating an awareness that he is playing a part in a play, he steps outside the realm of the play and calls attention to the artificiality of the play for just a moment so that he can address the audience and challenge their characterization of him as the villain with an unnerving expression. accuracy since it mysteriously assumes that they did,which they did. By exiting the play, Iago uses this opportunity to manipulate the audience's thoughts just as he manipulates the thoughts and actions of the characters in the play. Still addressing the audience, Iago continues with the previous soliloquy: "How then can I be a villain / To advise Cassio in this parallel path, / Directly for his good?" (II.iii.336-338). By making the valid claim that he is doing a good deed by advising Cassio on how to get what he wants, Iago forces the audience to question their designation of him as the play's villain. With this statement, Iago leads the audience to play with the idea that he may not be the bad guy, since what he says is true. But this uncertainty lasts only a moment, for he continues: "Deities of hell! / When devils clothe themselves with blackest sins, / Suggest with heavenly spectacles, / As I do now" (II.iii.338-340). By directing the final line "As I do now" at the audience, Iago reveals that he has just deceived the audience in the same way that devils do and, more importantly, just as he deceives his victims in the play, thus reaffirming the audience's judgment . of him as the bad guy. Furthermore, the deceived audience despises Iago even more for his lack of shame and awareness of his evil nature. In this way, Iago's use of theatrical language gives him the opportunity to address the audience and manipulate their thoughts as he does with his victims in the play, so that his evil extends beyond the realm of the play . As this scene gives Iago the ability to extend his reign of deception, it also disempowers him because it calls attention to the fact that he too is simply another of the play's fictional characters. At the end of his soliloquy, Iago has brought the audience to the conclusion that he actually "plays the villain" in the play by deceiving them too (II.iii.324). Reinforcing his audience's characterization of him as the villain, Iago inadvertently points out that he has a role in the play Othello and, therefore, is a fictional character. Since fictional characters have a determined destiny since the playwright and his script have already determined their future, they are not in control of their future. No matter how cunning and powerful Iago may seem, at the end of every performance of the play Iago will always end up in the hands of the authorities. Therefore, while theatrical language offers Iago the chance to extend his reign of terror to the audience, it simultaneously weakens the audience's perception of him as the holder of so much power, as it reminds them that he is simply a fictional character like the others characters and therefore has no more control over his future than they do. When Iago fails in his attempt to control the other characters with his words, he turns to action and then silence. When Emilia first begins to reveal Iago's deception, Iago orders her to "enchant... [his] tongue," but when she fails to heed his command, he alters his order, telling her instead : "I ask you to take you home" (V.ii.184, 195). With the verb “to charge,” Iago not only imposes a task on her, but also draws on his authority as a husband as he commands her. As Emilia challenges his authority by ignoring his directions, Iago draws his sword and stabs her, thus reasserting his power over her. Shortly afterward, Othello tells Cassio to ask Iago to explain why he plotted against him, and Iago replies, "Ask me nothing. What you know, you know. / From this moment on I will never say another word" ( V.ii.303 -304). A request requires another to do something based on authority and therefore involves one exercising power over the other., 1986.