by Peter Sinclair

Created on: February 14, 2009

Iago: The Figure of Wounded Identity in Shakespeare's Othello.

Iago is perhaps Shakespeare's most frightening character because he is both the most intellectual and the most nihilistic creation in literature. He does not physically assault Othello in order to get his revenge, to reach what he calls "my peculiar end" (I, I 50); Iago wages a crafty psychological attack against Othello's identity

by convincing him to doubt his position as the master of both his marriage and his occupation. Although Iago's assault against Othello has been considered by many readers to lack motivation, it is evident that an attempt to cope with a drastic wound to his sense of self-hood when Othello passes him over for second-in-command drives Iago's actions.

In Act I, Iago tells Roderigo, "I am not what I am." This statement is the inverse of God's response when Moses asks Him for His name: "I am that I am." At first it would seem that Iago proclaims himself the devil. But closer inspection reveals that Iago testifies to his loss of identity. "I no longer know who I am." When Othello selects Cassio to be his lieutenant, Iago suffers an ontological shock. He loses his sense of identity, just as characters like Roderigo, Cassio and Othello mourn their loss of "reputation" and "occupation" throughout the play. Shakespeare foregrounds the play with ample evidence that Iago had always maintained a powerful position in Venice with Othello. Characters continually and ironically refer to him as the "ancient" and the "honest" partner with Othello in the business of war. Iago's identity has been bound to Othello like a subject who worships his lord. To be passed over for the lieutenant becomes tantamount to being banished from kinship for Iago.

We all suffer periods in our life when events cause us to question our own identity. We often suffer periods in which our loss of our sense of self-hood causes us to feel a painful emptiness. How does one fill the void of a lost sense of self hood? Shakespeare frequently portrays characters who must reassess and reinvent their identity after it suffers a wound. Edmund in King Lear reinvents himself into the villain in response to his father hailing him as the "Bastard," and proceeds to fill his bastardly role very well. Hamlet, who finds himself "unpregnant of my cause" (II, ii 568), and believes he deserves to be called "coward" and "villain," must continually reinvent his identity as he pursues different means of action. Iago, I would argue, copes with

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