Iago the Gardener`s Behavior in “Othello” by Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare’s Othello is a play that has been analyzed from various perspectives ranging from racism to the “green-eyed monster” of jealousy but the theme that seems the most inclusive of these themes is sexual insecurity. This quality is found in most of the main characters for real or imagined reasons and drives them to take extreme action, much as it does in real life.

In the lead-up to the passage to be analyzed, Iago has tried to turn Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, against Othello by letting him know his daughter is “making the beast with two backs” (Oth. 1.1) with the Moor. He does this to help his friend, Roderigo, ostensibly, but Iago’s motives are more complex than that. He is angry with Othello for choosing Cassio as his “ancient,” his lieutenant when he is more deserving. He hates the Moor because it is rumored that he that “twixt my sheets / He has done my office. I know not if’t be true, / But I for mere suspicion in that kind / Will do as if for surety” (Oth. 1.3). Even if that is not true, the rumor provides Iago with the motive and a plan to destroy Othello.

Roderigo is in love with Desdemona and outraged that she has given herself to another man, particularly a black man. He depends on Iago for the strength of character needed to prevent him from committing suicide and to take revenge on his rival instead. To get the younger man to the point, Iago has to stiffen his spine. He tells Roderigo to exercise self-control to place his love for himself over his love for her. Roderigo protests that he knows he is too much in love but does not have the “virtue” of changing that in himself. Iago answers:

Virtue! a fig! ‘Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus.

Our bodies are gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners;

so that if we will plant nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme,

supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many,

either to have it sterile with idleness or manured with industry;

why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills.

If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise

another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would

conduct us to most preposterous conclusions:

But we have reason to cool our raging motions,

our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts;

whereof I take this, that you call love,

to be a sect or scion. (Oth. 1.3)

Iago believes that it is he determines who he is and what he does, that he tends to himself as he would a garden, planting nettles to strengthen his toxic, hurtful self or hyssop for more courage while weeding out thyme that might make his character more pleasing. He has the power to make himself corrigible and he asks Roderigo how it could be otherwise because if a man was subject to passion without the balancing factor of reason, he would be worse than an animal. For this reason, he mockingly calls Roderigo’s love for Desdemona a “sect or scion” (Oth. 1.3), a religion of the younger man’s own creation.

His speech is undermined by his metaphors. By using plants to illustrate his point he suggests that human behavior is organic and inevitable, that traits have to be planted and tended until they become full-grown at which point they take on a life of their own; and once a man’s character has been created only death can change it. In the context of the play, however, Iago’s credo takes on a threatening quality because it is by carefully cultivating ideas in Othello’s mind that he creates a nettle that will sting Desdemona to death at the end.

Almost as if he is rehearsing for his revenge on Othello, he implants the idea in Roderigo’s mind that to free himself from his obsession with Desdemona he must prepare for the day she leaves the Moor or at least notices Roderigo. “Put money in thy purse,” he says over and over, like a gardener planting a row of lettuce. Iago fully intends to “harvest” that lettuce for his own benefit but first Roderigo has to be distracted by other herbs so the gardener can complete his work.

Ironically, Iago overlooks the fact that his own passion is out of control, driving him to avenge himself on Othello by accusing Cassio, the new “ancient” of committing adultery with Desdemona. Cassio is the man in whom Iago seems more than a little interested, at least to judge by the account he gives of sleeping with Cassio one night while the other man dreamed of Desdemona:

In sleep I heard him say, “Sweet Desdemona,

Let us be wary, let us hide our loves”;

And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand,

Cry, “O sweet creature!” and then kiss me hard,

As if he pluck’d up kisses by the roots,

That grew upon my lips; then laid his leg

Over my thigh, and sigh’d and kiss’d; (Oth. 2.3)

It is Iago’s sexual ambiguity, his preference for the company of men to the neglect of his wife, Emilia, that complicates his motives. Even his hatred for Othello is like that of a spurned lover. He is a man driven by desire, regardless of the claim he makes in his speech to Roderigo. In his case, reason has been pressed into the service of desire, and he does not see that when the two are combined, invariably it is a passion that leads the way.

Consciously or not, Iago realizes that Othello has the same fears as he has, and is just as susceptible to suggestion. When he implants the idea in Othello’s mind that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona, he plays on Othello’s insecurities that are only slightly greater than his own. The play does not say whether the marriage between Othello and Desdemona was consummated but does indicate that the general is not as comfortable in the boudoir as he is in an army tent. He is happiest when charming her with tales of battles and narrow escapes, and while she is willing to share that life with him, he can never be sure that it satisfies her. That fear added to his other insecurities such as his past, the color of his skin, his outsider status in Venice and the fact that he has little else to think about while in Cyprus, make Othello the ideal candidate for Iago’s schemes; but, as Iago discovers, as he sows, so shall he reap.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello, Moor of Venice. Washington DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, 2004.

Outline

Introduction: In Othello, sexual insecurity drives characters to take extreme measures.
2^nd paragraph: In the lead-up to the passage analyzed, Iago helps Roderigo incriminate Othello by telling Desdemona’s father the two are “making the beast with two backs.” Iago seems to be helping a friend but his motives are mixed. Most of all he wants revenge.
3^rd paragraph: Roderigo loves Desdemona and is close to suicide now that she has given herself to the Moor. Iago tells him to use his self-control, that every man can make himself be what he wants. He is like a gardener creating himself by planting different seeds. Every man, Roderigo included, is able to balance his passion with reason.
4^th paragraph: Iago’s metaphors contradict him. However, he can implant ideas in other man’s minds, as he will with Othello.
5^th paragraph: Almost as if rehearsing, he plants the idea in Roderigo’s mind that he should make money for the day Desdemona turns her attention to him.
6^th paragraph: Iago fails to see that in his reason and passion have combined, with passion leading the way. His insecurities run deep. Although he is married to Emilia he prefers the company of men, Cassio in particular.
7^th paragraph: Iago and Othello have the same fears. Othello is more at home among men and in army tents than in the boudoir. Iago plays on those fears but in the end. he reaps what he has sowed.

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Iago the Gardener`s Behavior in “Othello” by Shakespeare

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