The medieval-renaissance concept of the soul in Othello:  

focus on Iago

While you're watching the play, keep in mind some issues we laid the basis for in one of our class discussions.  Be alert for some of the ways various characters in the play think or behave in terms of the conception of human nature taken for granted in Shakespeare's day.  

The intellect, or the faculty of intelligence

What is the standard understanding (i.e., for Shakespeare’s audience) of the purpose of intelligence — its proper end and use?  I.e., what is the intellect “there for”?

What qualities of intellect does Iago exhibit?

• How does the power of intelligence come across? 

• What use does he make of his intellect? 

What appeals does Iago make to

• Rodrigo’s intellect?

• Cassio’s intellect?

• Othello’s intellect?

The will, or the faculty of decision/choice

What is the standard understanding of the purpose of the will — its proper end and use?  I.e., in the picture generally taken for granted in Shakespeare’s era, why are we given will?  (What kind of choices are we to make if these are to be good?)

What qualities of will does Iago exhibit?

• What virtues of will does Iago exhibit? 

• What use does his will make of itself? 

What appeals does Iago make to

• Rodrigo’s assumptions about the will?

• Cassio’s assumptions about the will?

• Othello’s assumptions about the will?

The appetites and the senses (faculties of the animal soul)

& the humors (bodily fluids supposed to influence people’s “temperaments”)

What is the standard understanding of the purpose of the appetites, and of the senses?  I.e., what did people in Shakespeare’s age assume to be the rationale for these faculties, within the mind of the Creator of the human creature?

What appetites does Iago exhibit? 

• That is:  which ones (if any) loom large in his motivation?

• Also important:  which do not?

How do the facts we notice here piece out with respect to the commonplaces about vice and virtue with respect to the appetites?

What role do appetites, or notions about appetites, play in Iago’s appeals to

• Rodrigo?

• Cassio?

• Othello?

How then might a reflective person in Shakespeare's audience described the characters (the ethical dispositions) of these characters (imagined personages)?

• Iago

• Rodrigo

• Cassio

• Othello

• Desdemona

[For more on the distinction between two prominent usages of the term "character" -- psychological/moral disposition on the one hand, and "fictional personage" on the other, you can consult the article in our online glossary on "Character and Characterization".]

  Suggestions are welcome.  Please send your comments to lyman@ksu.edu .

   Contents copyright © 2003 by Lyman A. Baker. 

Permission is granted for non-commercial educational use; all other rights reserved.

  This page last updated 17 October 2003 .