by Erin McGuinness (Circle 3)
In both Othello and The Tragedy of King Richard III, the audience is presented with very manipulative characters.Iago and Richard also differ in the way they go about manipulating people. Iago does it and feigns care and concern, hence he is referred to as “Honest Iago” by Othello for the better part of the play. He carefully tends to Othello to craft this identity that fools everyone. While Richard is a known deceiver, he does not spend a long time making himself out to be something that will work to his advantage. For example, Richard plays the part of the concerned dedicated brother when he is “informed” that his brother Clarence is going to be imprisoned in London Tower. Richard reacts by asking Clarence in I.i.49-51, /Belike his majesty hath some intent/ That you should be new-christened in the Tower./ But what’s the matter, Clarence? May I know?/ Here, Richard is feigning total concern for Clarence. To reassure his brother that he will be fine, he mentions that he is going to be “new-christened” in the Tower. Shakespeare utilizes a pun to have Richard’s final vow to Clarence. He states in I.i.115-116, /We;;, your imprisonment shall not be long. / I will deliver you or lie for you./ Richard puns off of the words deliver and lie here, as Clarence is probably thinking that Richard will “deliver” him from the Tower and “lie” his own life down to save his brother. In reality, Richard plans to “deliver” Clarence to the Tower with no chance of ever leaving, and “lie” to Clarence in order to get away with it.
Both Richard and Iago are so good at deceiving people because they know them so well. For example, Iago knows that Desdemona will not stop vouching for Cassio because it is in her caring and compassionate nature to do all that she can to help. Richard understands how Lady Anne works- how even in her rage and sadness over the loss of her husband, she could never kill another. This is why Richard offers her that option in I.ii.168-171, /Nay, do not pause, for I did kill King Henry;/ But ‘twas thy beauty that provoked me./Nay, now dispatch: ‘twas I that stabbed young Edward;/ But t’was thy heavenly face that set me on./ Not only does Richard admit guilt to murdering her husband but he then makes her believe that she is to blame. They end their exchange with Lady Anne recognizing how great it is to see Richard / become so penitent/ in I.ii.208. She completely plays into Richard’s plan and becomes just another pawn in his plot to get the crown.
Finally, the method of only keeping people around as long as they can help you before harming your purposes is one that Richard and Iago both observe. Roderigo spends his funds away by going to Cyprus to try and win over Desdemona, and in the end, Iago kills him for being a liability to revealing his scheme. Hastings is slated to be executed after Richard tests him to see where his loyalties are. I am looking forward to uncovering more similarities between Richard III and other plays we have already covered as we finish our reading.
Erin,
Your examples are so specific and valid, I didn’t make these connections until now. I wrote about a similar topic involving Richard and Iago and their motivation, or lack there of, in their evil schemes. These plays have many parallel plot points as you have noted. I agree you must know someone well to be able to manipulate them. Both of these men manipulate women which is interesting to me now that I think of it. Women can be seen as nurturing people who also want to assist others like Desdemona. A character like Lady Anne is viewed as weak like many women in Shakespeare’s plays are. Both of these villains play on the characteristics of these women and use them to their advantage. I enjoyed reading the parallels between the schemes of Richard and Iago.
Erin,
I don’t think the comparisons between Iago and Richard will ever stop for those who read both the plays they come from and it’s very easy to understand why. Both are arguably Shakespeare’s best manipulators and easily some of his most memorable villains because of their uncanny ability to manipulate and deceive people almost on a whim. When analyzing their differences, I really appreciate you bringing up “honest Iago” because when I think about that, I tend to think Richard is a better manipulator because he doesn’t have to deal with a facade and can simply focus on screwing with people who already KNOW he’s an evil bastard and STILL fall for what he has to say. This just makes him (at least to me) more fun to read because you can tell how much he really enjoys cutting a bloody path towards the crown while Iago just wants to poke at Othello for not promoting him.
Erin,
I had just commented on Kristin’s post and saw you had a similar one- you both brought up such important yet different points about these two characters! Iago and Richard are both brilliant manipulators and like you said, they have similarities such as how you mentioned they keep those around that they need for only so long and dump them when they have the opportunity to. Their way with words I think is both of their ultimate weapons such as how Iago use trickery to deceive and Richard plays on words to manipulate others into thinking false things, like how you mentioned his killing being to blame on Lady Anne herself. Although both of these men have their own reasoning for doing the evil trickery that they do, I do not think one is worse than another, I just think that they both are good at what they do. I give them both credit for understanding people so well and being able to say the right things that they know will throw others off and have them start to second guess their own beliefs, just because of the lies that they are being told. They are definitely evil but even more so brilliant!
Erin, I think this is a great comparison and contrast between Richard and Iago. As Prof. Mulready said in class on Tuesday, these villains are definitely more interesting than the heroes in Shakespeare’s work. Of all of Shakespeare’s plays which I’ve read, these two characters are really the villainous cream of the crop.
“While Richard is a known deceiver, he does not spend a long time making himself out to be something that will work to his advantage”
This is a great observation. Although both characters manipulate others to do their bidding, Iago seems more patient and careful in his trickery and abuses. Iago is definitely a mastermind who knows the long term effects of his suggestions towards others, which I think is very apparent in how he baits Othello slowly in planting the seeds of doubt.
But Richard is definitely shortsighted in his goals. He will get what he wants of people in the course of one conversation, as we saw in the example you pointed out with Lady Anne and as we see in Act IV with Queen Elizabeth. Maybe that’s also why Richard’s body count is much higher! He uses people, gets what he wants quickly, and then spews them out of his mouth. It took Iago a lot longer to dispatch Roderigo than it did for Richard to get rid of the myriad of people he manipulated. Perhaps this frantic pace of Richard’s manipulation with people is why people know of his deceit much more than people knew of Iago’s.
Good post!
Hi Erin,
You had some great point about describing these two characters which I thought was interesting. I agree that Richard and Iago are successful at manipulating and they do share things in common. Iago is great as what he does as he sets Othello up! Richard on the other hand has the same goals but achieves them in a different path which I find to be interesting! I love the way you’re able to give vivid examples from each play about how these men have similarities and a few differences. I find it fascinating how these characters in the play are found to be successful at being evil and how important their roles are in the play.
I think that the comparison of Iago and Richard is an apt one, as the two are most certainly skilled in the school of manipulation as you’ve stated. Both characters act with impunity regarding things that they want—Richard the throne and Iago retribution for the “scorn” that he seems to have received from Othello. For that reason, both characters seemingly pursue characters with obvious weaknesses and wear them down until they get what they want. Richard does this to Lady Anne by stating that he is weak and that she is in fact the victor whilst Iago makes Othello trust him by planting the seed of doubt into Othello’s mind about his wife Desdemona, playing on his insecurities.
Erin,
You did some great work analyzing the manipulative qualities in Iago and Richard, identifying the contingencies that exist in Shakespeare’s most devious villains throughout what we’ve read so far. The power of manipulation is a huge thematic characteristic we can evaluate, probably endlessly, within a lot of these villains, but the two most prominent examples are indeed Iago and Richard. Each character knows and is attentive to the behaviors and personalities of their peers and family. Richard, like you note, knows how to talk to Clarence and trick him into thinking he intends to help free him. Iago, again like you discussed, understands that Desdemona is ceaselessly caring and concerned with those she finds sympathy for: Cassio, in this instance. What makes the manipulative tendencies of Iago and Richard disturbing outside of a contextual level is how easily these behaviors can be seen in the real world. Ultimately, I think this allows us to connect with the villains with a level of understanding that makes them more frightening than they would be otherwise, we can see their behavior in other people (hopefully not ourselves).
I think the comparisons you made between Richard and Iago are pretty spot on. It’s almost impossible not to compare the two villains just because they are both so good at deceiving the people around them. One of the points that I made in my blog post last week was that Iago is able to successfully carry out his plan up until it’s all too late. Richard on the other hand, has several people in the play doubt him. For example, Prince Edward has serious doubts about Richard when the two meet. Prince Edward is able to pick up right away that Richard is a false friend, and Richard would kill him if need be. However, regardless of the doubts some may have in Richard, he is still unbelievable as far as carrying out his act’s of deception just as Iago.
Erin,
After finishing the play and reading other blogs on Richard and Iago, I find myself equally as fascinated with the two characters and looking at them side by side. As I wrote on Lauren’s blog, both Richard and Iago are master manipulators who pray on other people’s desperation and insecurities. I like that you point out their one key difference though because I think it’s the big key difference, and that is that Iago manipulates under the mask of honesty and Richard does not. Richard is a known villain and yet people still fall for his schemes. Most surprisingly for me as well was Lady Anne. How could it be that she would fall for his wicked words? It certainly raises a lot of questions for us as readers about the other characters, especially the female characters, and what Shakespeare is trying to say through their words as well as their actions.
This is an interesting point, and begs the question of why Richard seems so unconcerned with putting on the façade of the honest man. Since everyone he crosses seems to die within days or weeks of meeting him, I wonder if it simply isn’t worth it to him to play the part since he’s going to kill them all anyway (especially since it’s apparently common to kill your way to the throne at this time). Conversely, Iago seeks a military promotion, which can’t happen to someone accused of rampant bloody mass-murder, so he has more to lose than Richard.
Erin,
I really enjoyed the way in which you compared both Iago and Richard. I compared them in my blog post this week as well, but I really liked the fact that you focused so much on the people that they manipulated, rather than solely focusing on their own methods of manipulation. I honestly had not considered the fact that Richard is so good at manipulating those around him due to the fact that he has known them previously. He absolutely uses this to his advantage, seeing as he already knows all of them on a very personal level; this would mean that he would know their weaknesses, and would definitely use them to his advantage.
I like how thoural your analysis of character manipulation comes across. It’s interesting to explore In detail the reason why both iago and Richard are so good at what they do. Playing off of others personality traits I agree is the key component of the successful manipulation both men carry out. That being said, I think your recognition of characters that are manipulated specifically women is very interesting. I did not think about gender when I wrote a while back about how characters are manipulated in Shakespeare plays. This is something I now realize I over looked because while Richard goes to great lengths to manipulate everyone, he simply use his words (and not even very well) and a meek amount of effort to win over Anne. It’s almost as if he doesn’t have to try as hard because she is a women and she is vounerable.
I like that you brought up the line about Clarence being “new-christened” as part of Richard’s manipulation of him. There’s an idea in the Catholic church that those who die as martyrs receive a ‘baptism of blood,’ meaning that they have been baptized by their own blood in the defense of Christ and Christianity. One of the first arguments that Clarence uses against the murderers is that of their betrayal of one of God’s commandments if they murder him. It is also one of his last. At line 1.4.241 he tells them that they “war with God” by murdering him. The murderers do the deed anyway, but at line 260 the second murderer voices his repent. “How fain like Pilate, would I wash my hands / Of this most grievous, guilty murder done.” I think that with Clarence’s insistence on God’s will, and the Second Murderer’s comparison of him to Jesus Christ, it’s safe to say that Clarence’s “new-christening” was one of blood.