Iago s Final Soliloquy As The Motive Hunting Of...

During Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s nineteenth century lectures on Shakespeare’s play Othello, Coleridge described Iago’s final soliloquy as the â€Å"motive hunting of motiveless malignancy.† Throughout the speech, Iago gives various reasons to rationalize his actions. He states that Othello slept with his wife, Othello gave Cassio the lieutenant position that Iago was next in line for, and Cassio and his wife had an affair. Each perceived injustice holds the potential to justify Iago’s actions but the flippancy in which each are stated and the fact that Iago is unable to pinpoint a singular cause for his desire for vengeance supports Coleridge’s claim that Iago is simply hunting for a motive to justify his malignancy. Coleridge asserts that despite the various reasons given, Iago is completely motiveless. He causes chaos for the sake of causing chaos. Iago’s lack of a reason for his destructive tendencies and the fact that he effects ev ery main character in the play, elevates him from a mere villain to a symbol of the unavoidable chaos that accompanies life. Shakespeare employs Iago as a symbol of anarchy as he wreaks havoc on every innocent character in order to demonstrate the only way to triumph over the inescapable uncertainty of life is through adopting a calm and logical mindset. In Act 1 scene III of the play, Shakespeare opens on a seemingly random and useless military discussion between the members of the Venetian counsel in order to present the correct way to