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Making Othello statment question-A level english literature aqa b

Hi, is someone able to give feedback on this essay and an estimate of the band it would be in and a possible mark out of 25? Thank you, would be much appreciated.

‘Iago’s villainy is fiendish and inexplicable.’-To what extent do you agree with this view?
Remember to include in your answer relevant comments on Shakespeare's dramatic methods. [25 marks]

From the very beginning of the play, Act 1, Scene 1, Shakespeare establishes Chaos, indifference to power, and Iago as the tragic villain in the revenge tragedy. Shakespeare clearly presents Iago as fiendish throughout the play as he is presented as an opportunist who exploits other characters' weaknesses and moral nature to “ensnare” them in this Machiavellian scheme fueled by his vendetta towards Othello. While Iago does not have one clear motif to cause Othello’s hamartia/ tragic downfall, instead critics find there is a multitude of different motivations such as, being turned down from the position as lieutenant, there was a rumour Othello slept with his wife, while there is also a homosexual reading and therefore Iago may have desired to be promoted to be closer to Othello.

Iago is fiendish as he destroys other characters' reputations to enhance his own. Throughout the play reputation and status is a key theme throughout, as the characters are often referred to by their military ranking, while when Cassio loses his position as lieutenant, he is most distraught about losing his “reputation” highlighted through the repetition, “Reputation, reputation, reputation! O I have lost my reputation!” Iago is deceptive through his duplicative nature, whereby he manipulates others and “ensare” them into his “web” of deceit, however, is referred to as “honest Iago”, this epithet is repeated 16 times in the play, further building his sly and fiendish nature. Iago exploits other characters to achieve his desire to seek revenge on Othello which is displayed through his exploitation of Rodrigo. Rodrigo is higher in status and has more wealth than Iago however despite this Iago is seen to hold the most power in their relationship, as he controls the narrative as seen in Act 1, Scene 1, and uses Rodigo for money and entrainment, “My foul my purse…my sport my profit”. Rodrigo seeks Iago’s advice making him an easy victim of Iago’s manipulation, however, to Iago Rodrigo is simply another piece in his villainous plot to seek revenge on Othello.

Shakespeare presents Iago’s motifs as inexplicable as he is fueled by several motifs while some audiences may view his desire to achieve a higher military rank as the underlying motif, as this was the first motivation that was addressed in the opening scene. However, this cannot be the only motivation as Iago continues to create disorder after having gained the position of “lieutent”, as Iago tells Othello to kill Desdemona, by “strangl[ing] her in her bed”. A factor as to why Iago may have continued with his machiavellian scheme even after he had achieved a high status in the military could be because he was a soldier without a war at this point in that play, and therefore his scheming could be to fulfill his boredom, therefore this presents Iago as having psychopathic tendencies as he defies or morals without even having a strong motivation. Despite there being serval possible reasons for Iago to catalysis Othello’s tragic downfall, Iago’s hamartia is his jealousy which is the driving force behind all his villainous scheming. Iago is presented as jealous from the very opening scene, as he is jealous of Cassio for getting promoted to lieutenant.

Irony is also injected within much of the play as one of Iago’s desires is to achieve a higher status in the military, which would, in turn, increase his status, reputation, and power. However, Iago is arguably the most powerful character in the play as he can exploit others and ruin their reputation all while also seeming unassuming. While irony is further established in Act 3 Scene 3, when he warns Othello of jealousy, “O, beware of Jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on”, all while this is the very driving force to all of his inexplicable motivations to take down Othello.

Iago fiendish nature is presented by Shakespeare through his toxic desire for power, in which his hamartia, his jealousy is the catalyst to his machiavellian duplicative nature, whereby he manipulates the opportunities he is presented with, in which he exploits serval characters, Rodrigo, Desdemona, Cassio, because of his vendetta against Othello, where he defies all morality to take Othello down. The audience is also left to question Iago’s inexplicable motifs, which present him as an evil, flawed tragic villain.