IAGO

A passed-over soldier assembles a scheme out loud, testing each piece of it on the audience as he goes. He improvises his own evil and admires it forming.

1:22Dramatic30s–40sAdvanced

The speech132 words · 4 beats

0:00 / 1:22

Off-book

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse; For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane, If I would time expend with such a snipe But for my sport and profit.

I hate the Moor: And it is thought abroad 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.

Cassio's a proper man: let me see now; To get his place and to plume up my will In double knavery—How, how?—Let's see:— After some time, to abuse Othello's ear That he is too familiar with his wife.

I have't. It is engender'd. Hell and night Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.turn

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Speaking to: The audience, made complicit in a plan still taking shape.
What just happened: Left alone after using Roderigo for money, Iago turns his grudge against Othello into method. Nothing is decided yet; he thinks the whole design into being in front of us.
Objective: To construct a workable plot to destroy Othello and convince himself it will hold.
The turn: 'I have't. It is engender'd.' — the scattered malice suddenly locks into a plan he can execute.
Watch out for: The trap is oily, telegraphed villainy. Iago is genuinely reasoning and genuinely pleased; the danger is in how ordinary and rational he sounds. The discovery must feel found, not premeditated. Relish 'monstrous birth' without mustache-twirling.

Full work: Othello New to the vocabulary? What’s a beat? →

More from Othello1

EMILIA1:24Iago's wife and Desdemona's woman. She has watched this marriage up close and holds fewer illusions about men than anyone else in the play.

IAGO

Othello · William Shakespeare · 1:22 · 132 words

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse; For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane, If I would time expend with such a snipe But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor: And it is thought abroad 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. Cassio's a proper man: let me see now; To get his place and to plume up my will In double knavery—How, how?—Let's see:— After some time, to abuse Othello's ear That he is too familiar with his wife. I have't. It is engender'd. Hell and night Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.

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