Othello #2

"I do suspect the lusty Moor hath leaped into my seat; the thought whereof doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards; and nothing can or shall content my soul till I am evened with him, wife for wife. Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor at least into a jealousy so strong that judgement cannot cure. (Shakespeare 40)." Iago is clearly unable to allow Othello to be happy with Desdemona, as well as in other aspects of his life, and is set out to destroy him. He cannot accept the fact that the woman he "loves" has married another man, let alone the "poor trash of Venice", which is what Iago will come to refer to Othello as a few lines down. The fact that he considers himself so much better than Othello, mainly because of the colors of their skin, shows how shallow of a man Iago really is. If he can't destroy Othello by winning over Desdemona, he is going to mentally defeat Othello causing him to destroy himself.