Is Iago a motiveless malignity?

Is Iago a motiveless malignity?

Coleridge asserts that Iago’s motives (in our sense) were his “keen sense of his intellectual superiority” and his “love of exerting power.” And so Iago’s malignity is “motiveless” because his motives (in Coleridge’s sense) — being passed over for promotion, his suspicion that Othello is having an affair with his wife …

Who said that Shakespeare’s Iago in Othello suffers from motiveless malignity?

Coleridge’s well-known remarks on Iago are provoked by the villain’s final speech of Act 1. Responding to lines 1.3. 380–404, Coleridge writes: The last Speech, the motive-hunting of motiveless Malignity – how awful!

How does Iago change throughout the play?

Using carefully thought-out actions and words, Iago manipulates others to do things in a way that helps him and gets him to reach his aspirations. He is the driving force in this play, pushing Othello and every other character towards the tragic ending. Iago now starts revealing his plot to take down Othello.

How are Iago’s soliloquies the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity?

“The motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity” was Coleridge’s comment on the Iago soliloquies. Thus Coleridge asserts that Iago’s impulses are simply to carry out evil acts – he has an inner malignancy that drives his “keen sense of his intellectual superiority” and his “love of exerting power”.

What is a motiveless malignity?

May 16, 1989. Samuel Taylor Coleridgehad a phrase for it: “motiveless malignity.” He wasn’t talking about the Central Park jogger rape but about Iago in Shakespeare’s “Othello.” It’s a sonorous phrase that explains nothing; and yet somehow it helps, as if the thing has been given its right name.

What does the motive hunting of motiveless malignity mean?

Coleridge’s phrase is often taken to mean that Iago has no real motive and does evil only because he is evil.

Who says motiveless malignity?

Samuel Taylor Coleridgehad a phrase for it: “motiveless malignity.” He wasn’t talking about the Central Park jogger rape but about Iago in Shakespeare’s “Othello.” It’s a sonorous phrase that explains nothing; and yet somehow it helps, as if the thing has been given its right name.

What does motive hunting of motiveless malignity mean?

Coleridge’s phrase is often taken to mean that Iago has no real motive and does evil only because he is evil. This is not far from what Coleridge meant, but he almost certainly wasn’t using the word “motive” in the same way as it’s now used.

Does Iago change?

This change in his personality occurs mainly because: Iago plans to ruin his relationship with Desdemona, he was an Outsider, he had bad judgement when it came to trusting people and failed to see reality, his negative thinking about himself and his relationship with Desdemona.

How does Iago change Othello?

Iago uses his knowledge of people and the intimate ways he knows others to hurt them. He grows closer to Othello as he plots against him. He is able to convince Othello that his wife has been cheating on him with his new lieutenant Cassio by using his knowledge of Othello’s insecurities against him.

What does motiveless mean?

Definitions of motiveless. adjective. occurring without motivation or provocation. “motiveless malignity” synonyms: unprovoked, wanton unmotivated.

Was Iago possessed of a ‘motiveless malignity’?

The notion of Iago being possessed of a “motiveless malignity” is a theory advanced by the poet Coleridge concerning the character of Iago.

How does Coleridge characterize Iago’s characterization as being motive hunting?

Iago’s characterization as being “motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity” helps to explain the fundamental sense of bitterness and resentment that eats away at Iago. Coleridge uses the term to suggest that Iago appropriates the world around him through a “motiveless malignity:”.

What is motiveless malignity According to Coleridge?

Expert Answers. Coleridge uses the term “motiveless malignity” to describe Iago’s sense of resentment and bitterness at being passed over for promotion, for being denied power, and for not enjoying what he considers to be his rightful sense of happiness or entitlement.

Where does the phrase motive hunting of motiveless malignity come from?

The famous phrase, “The motive-hunting of motiveless Malignity,” occurs in a note Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in his copy of Shakespeare, as he was preparing a series of lectures delivered in the winter of 1818-1819. The note concerns the end of Act 1, Scene 3 of Othello in which Iago takes leave of Roderigo, saying, “Go to, farewell.