Iago's Motivation

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act and react. He is a pressing advocate of
evil, a pernicious escort, steering good people toward their own vulgar
destruction.
Iago must first make careful preparations in order to make certain his fire
of human destruction will burn with fury and rage. He douses his victims with a
false sense of honesty and goodness. And, as do most skillful pyromaniacs, Iago
first prepares his most important target, Othello:

Though in the trade of war I have slain men, Yet do I hold it very
stuff o'th' conscience To do no contrived murder. I lack the iniquity.
. . I had thought t'have yerked him under the ribs . . . . . .he
prated And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms Against your Honor
(I, ii 1-10).

These sentences are obvious lies (to the reader), but they are crucial to the
saboteur because they present Iago to Othello as a brave, loyal, and moral
person. Iago indirectly and cleverly portrays himself as a man ready to ...

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