o as much as he does. Although at first he tells Iago that he is angry because Othello passed him over for a promotion, he later also says that he hates Othello because he himself is in love with Desdemona and because he believes that Cassio and Othello have both slept with his wife (Rackin 70). Rackin believes that Iago's motives, "like his plans, seem to originate in an infernal region whose depths even he cannot fathom" (71).
Iago, therefore, would seem to be offered as an example of pure, unexplainable evil. He feels the need to do evil for its own sake. Othello, on the other hand, is offered as an exploration of the effects of evil on a mortal soul. He is, however, slightly more elevated in stature than ordinary mortals, not only in his position within the military, but also as a man. But Shakespeare seems to have specifically chosen a man who would n
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