Othello and Manipulation

"'Tis a notorious villain." (A.5, S.2, L.279) 
The mastermind behind everyone's downfall: Iago. Iago is an everyday manipulator. He plays with people's feelings. He doesn't care for anyone else but himself. He is like the ultimate puppet master, playing with everyone's feelings and using it against themselves and others. He made people turn their back on each other, he made people lose their jobs , he made people lose the love in a relationship. He is cruel, selfish, greedy, evil, jealous etc... Iago is so good at being manipulative, that he was able to manipulate himself. He was able to convince himself that Othello slept with Emilia and that is why he should hate him.He shows no respect for anyone. Iago is scary manipulative because he knows how to make people reach their breaking point and worse, he enjoys it. These are some of the people that got manipulated by Iago:

“The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,” (A.1, S.3,L.391)
Othello is man who sees the good in people. He's blinded by their honesty that he doesn't think they can possess an evil side to them.  He sees what he wants to see. He is a man with pride and honor which is why he makes a good commander. Othello is self conscious because of his dark skin. Him being self conscious makes him doubt himself himself thus makes him get jealous very easily. These are some of the reasons that led to Othello's downfall. He didn't see past the "loyalty" of Iago. His self consciousness made it easy for Iago to convince him that Desdemona was in fact cheating on him. His stupidity made him believe every lie Iago was feeding him without one trace of doubt. He didn't need much proof to believe that Iago was telling the truth. His pride got in the way. When he thought that his pride was being wounded he lost his mind. How could he be losing his property? Desdemona was his, he was her owner and she dared turn her back on him?! He wouldn't have it and lost his mind. His overreaction was feeding Iago for more manipulation. Outside of the battlefield (where he is brave, smart and on point) Othello is a stupid, gullible man who doesn't need much proof to confirm his suspicions.

"It is silliness to live when to live is torment"  (A.1, S.3, L.332) 
Roderigo was the bait in Iago's plan. He was the one who would do all of Iago's dirty laundry. Iago played and twisted with poor Roderigo's feelings for Desdemona. He used Desdemona as a prize that he promised Roderigo were to win if he did everything he said. Roderigo's passion for Desdemona blinded him. Roderigo's vulnerability made him an easy target for Iago, it didn't take much for him to listen and obey. Roderigo wasn't the most respected of men and Iago's acceptance made him feel worthy. He had a "fear of rejection, failure, embarrassment," (Benedetto) he was embarrassed because he had no women to accompany him like all the other strong, leading men. He kept getting rejected by Brabantio and Desdemona, Iago was the only one who accepted him and made him feel like he was worthy. He was scared that if he failed Iago he would get rejected once more and truly be alone.

"I know thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain."  (A.5, S.2, L.205)                     
Iago was so good at manipulating people that he was able to manipulate his own wife. He made her believe that he was a good man (in his own way), despite him treating her with disrespect. She never suspected him to be pure evil in all their years of marriage. You can tell how cruel and mean Iago is just by looking at the way he treats Emilia. He insults her at any given chance he gets, even when she does something good and to his advantage he calls her a "good wench" (A.3, S.3, L.349).

"I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip" (A.2, S.2, L.303)                               Cassio was also fooled by the front that Iago pulled. He thought that Iago was helping him but instead he was bringing him down. Cassio was too blinded by his own problems of losing his title as lieutenant that he didn't see that Iago was the cause of all his problems. He grew vulnerable and desperate. He was grasping at straws and wasn't paying attention to Iago's sneakiness. 

"It is my wretched fortune" (A.4, S.2, L.146) 
Iago was able to manipulate Desdemona by using Othello's feelings against her. He was able to convince her that since he is close to Othello, he can find out what's bothering him and help fix their relationship. Desdemona was too gullible and vulnerable to actually see that he was the one that was behind her doomed relationship.

Every character was different, everyone had different personalities and different problems. They all had different weaknesses. Iago was able to link each problem with one another to cause one big catastrophe. He made them his puppets. He "successfully uses the weaknesses to ultimately gain vengeance through humiliation" (Chuck). Iago proved to be the ultimate villain by being the ultimate puppet master.