- Apr 2024
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But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,Will do as if for surety. He holds me well
In this case, Iago is describing the effect and power he holds on others, by spreading suspicion. Could it be that he himself is entranced by the workings of suspicion, played by some external force? His power seems to work against him!
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- Mar 2024
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Alas, alas!It is not honesty in me to speakWhat I have seen and known. You shall observe him,And his own courses will denote him soThat I may save my speech. Do but go afterAnd mark how he continues.
Funnily Iago does not incite suspicion in Lodovico, only Othello. Perhaps that emphasizes Iago is a delusional part of Othello, the inner darkness that arises, indicating Othello has a fatal flaw that differs from all other characters. Is it really because he represses something? If so what? Why is he weak in his convictions and easy to sway? What does that show? What does it say about how he sees Desdemona?
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Do but encave yourself,And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scornsThat dwell in every region of his face
Confirmation bias! To provide an inkling of suspicion is to provide the basis of a narrative.
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With her, on her, what you will.
Shows that it is entirely Othello's choice to interpret Iago's words, that Iago is simply an inkling that knows none, and that it is man's tendency to suspect that causes the downfall.
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My lord is not my lord, nor should I know himWere he in favor as in humor altered
Indicates his inner darkness has taken over. He is truly beastly. The imbalance in who he listens to has caused this -- his insecurities, like many others, makes him more prone to suspicion and therefore Iago's advice than his own wife's
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Haply, for I am blackAnd have not those soft parts of conversationThat chamberers have, or for I am declinedInto the vale of years—yet that’s not much—
Here he brings up race and his alienation for his inability to understand. His own insecurity in being different appears in the form of Iago, suspicion for all that is actually normal.
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In the meantime,Let me be thought too busy in my fears—As worthy cause I have to fear I am—And hold her free, I do beseech your honor
He plays both sides, the suspicion and the "no it couldn't be", showing that it is Othello that chooses the suspicion.
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Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,As, I confess, it is my nature’s plagueTo spy into abuses, and oft my jealousyShapes faults that are not, that your wisdom,From one that so imperfectly conceits,Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble
IAGO QUITE LITERALLY IS HONEST WITH OTHELLO! He warns him that these suspicions, these inner thoughts are all a delusion, and yet Othello's insecurity and stubbornness refuses to believe it
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As where’s that palace whereinto foul thingsSometimes intrude not? Who has that breast so pureWherein uncleanly apprehensionsKeep leets and law-days and in sessions sitWith meditations lawful?
The palace refers to the mind where suspicion creeps in, who DOESN'T have suspicion invade their minds? Certainly not Othello, and Iago is stating the same for him, because they are one and the same person? He is literally telling him the truth of the situation, that these thoughts are "vile and false" but Othello will not listen.
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Nay, yet there’s more in this.I prithee speak to me as to thy thinkings,As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughtsThe worst of words
Iago has not elaborated or said much, it is Othello who is prying deeper and deeper into "knowing" what he should not, into peering into something that would disturb his peace. This connects to Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. It is then Othello's fault for looking for answers to his suspicions which he confirms with confirmation bias.
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“Think, my lord?” Alas, thou echo’st meAs if there were some monster in thy thoughtToo hideous to be shown.
Again, Iago is but an echo and reaffirmation of what is already there: he has said very little.
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Think, my lord?
He acts as an echo, and an echo is simply just a reaffirmation, a suspicion being ingrained, a hallucination
Tags
- Ignorance is Bliss
- Race
- Free will
- Tendency of Suspicion
- Inner Darkness
- Alienation
- Catalyst
- Knowledge
- Story
- Othello
- Suspicion
- Experience
- Domino Effect
- Stubbornness
- Irony
- Insecurity
- Question
- Delusion
- Echo
- Hallucination
- Neutrality
- Beast
- Iago as Shakespeare
- Prying
- Iago's Honesty
- Devil
- Iago
Annotators
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- Sep 2022
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docdrop.org docdrop.orgUntitled1
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And be saw blood upon their clothes;‘This then gere him strong suspicion,
With blood on both shirts and drinking gives ideas that they were the one who killed his father
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- May 2021
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www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Opinion | Our Pathetic Herd Immunity Failure—The New York Times. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/opinion/herd-immunity-us.html
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