Lago’s Hatred and Jealousy in the “Othello” by William Shakespeare

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Table of Contents

Thesis statement
Analysis
Works Cited

Othello is a story by William Shakespeare that revolves around four characters, Othello, who is the general in the Venetian Army, Lago, who was Othello’s assistant in the same army, Desdemona, the daughter of a senator who was Othello’s wife and Cassio, who is the Lieutenant. It is a tragic story that ends by the death of the main character because of the hatred and jealousy that Lago had against Othello.

Thesis statement

Lago had a deep hatred for the Moor firstly because of the fact that they were a people who were stuck in slavery and worked for their masters in the Kingdom of Venetia. He believed that these people were condemned to poverty for the rest of their lives and nothing could change that.

Lago’s detest was enhanced when a Moor (Othello) was promoted to the post of a general in the Army, and yet Lago himself could not be recognized by the ruling class. Lago had a deep seated hatred for Othello, and much insecurity and assumptions that came up on Lago in the rest of the story made him hate Othello and his tribe the more.

Othello earned respect in the army because he was brave at war but Lago was never happy about all these. He led the army to win many battles that was set before the Venetian people. Othello was a Moor, which is a group believed to come from North Africa, and was just a foreigner in the land. Lago was not happy that an outsider could be awarded the top rank in the Army.

Analysis

Lago had a soliloquy at the end of the book,” I hate the Moor, and it is thought abroad, that twixt my sheets, has done my office: I know if’t be true….yet I for mere suspicion in that kind, will do as if for surety.” This explains the general issues that he had against the Moor, the lineage that Othello belonged to.

His hatred toward the Moor started when he was overcome by rage over Casio’s promotion (by Othello) to a rank above him in the Venetian Army. He was a tribalist, greedy, and wanted power so much but Othello thought it wise to promote Cassio was a Florentine, but because of his hard work and his brevity in the army. Lago was someone driven by envy, fear, anger and with ill-intent and wanted to take all means necessary to keep them at bay.

He felt that he was the best suited for the promotion telling Othello that Cassio had not gotten the battlefield experience necessary to be promoted. He emphasized that Cassio was just a young boy who had not fought many battles with the foreign armies. He was a greedy man who was insecure and just wanted to be close to the ultimate power. In the Act 1 of the play, Shakespeare reports Lago saying that:

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant’, Oft capp’d to him;-and by the faith of a many, I know my price, I am worth no worse a place: But he, as loving his own pride and purposes, Evades them, with a bombast circumstance (806).

In the above extract, Lago was lamenting about Michael Cassio being given the position of a Lieutenant in the army, instead of him.

Lago was also jealous over a Moor taking a woman that was supposed to be his wife; Lago loved Desdemona so much though he was already married to Emilia. In the earlier days, he had already asked for blessings from Desdemona’s father to allow him marry the daughter. He never got to marry Desdemona but he still harbored feelings for the girl. When he later got to learn that Othello had married her, he was utterly upset and his hatred for for the Moor became more profound.

He also believed that Othello had already slept with his wife. He was furious that a foreigner had ‘slept in his sheets’ with his wife. He was a very insecure person that only drew lurid inferences from simple issues or no issues at all. He confesses in his soliloquy that he was acting out of mere suspicion to protect his tattered image.

Lago was additionally threatened by the success of the people around him. He felt that Othello, being a Moor, did not deserve the promotions he was getting in the Army. The fact that simple people from moor could get promotions he longed for made him mad and he swore to do everything necessary to keep them at bay. In order to redeem his image, which he thought was being compromised; he tried to down-talk everyone around him.

All these reasons drove Lago to act against his enemies and there was no better opportunity to do it than in the Venetian army’s battle against the Turkish onslaught. The Turks were out to occupy part of their land. When the Venetians army reached the bay, where they were to fight the Turkish Army, they found a huge storm had already swept the opponents. They then finished with what remained of Turkish Army. Thereafter, an after party was organized by Othello in celebrating the victory.

As the party progressed, Lago made sure that Cassio took too much alcohol so he could lose control of his actions. He then set him up with Rodrigo for a fight to make it look like Cassio confronted Rodrigo due to the excess alcohol he had consumed. All these instances are stylistically used by Shakespeare to typify Lago’s deep hatred for the Moor (Abcarian et al.).

Works Cited

Abcarian, Richard., Klots, Marvin., and Cohen, Samuel. Literature: The Human Experience. (10^th Ed.). Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2009.
Shakespeare, William. The Dramatic Works of Shakespeare, Part 1. Leipzig: Ernst Fleischer, 1824.

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Lago’s Hatred and Jealousy in the “Othello” by William Shakespeare

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