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Samuel Coleridge- "motiveless malignity"

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There is a running irony "as honest as I am", he is quite attractive because he plays around with the risk of being caught out. He is able to manipulate others and his staging always allows him to portray his manipulative behaviour as he is in the right place and the right time

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Reputation for straightforward honesty makes him more effective in his deceptions

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Iago's purpose is discord, chaos & breakdown of order, apparently a motiveless aim. He is a master manipulator and "plays" Othello and Desdemona as "well tuned instruments". His skill is based in his ability to exploit and tarnish the positive traits and characteristics of other characters - Othello's passionate honour, Cassio's courtesy and Desdemona's commitment to her husband. He appears to be omniscient and omnipotent in his capacity

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However, such extreme misogyny is the preserve of villains in Jacobean drama, suggesting that they, and Iago, overstep the mark. Iago's envious depiction of Cassio as 'handsome' and 'young', while assigning him his own character traits – 'a knave', 'the mere form of ... seeming' (2.1.227), 'a finder out of occasions' (2.1.229–30) – implies he has a jealous nature. Iago's rage against female sexuality may therefore be just one example of his spiteful attacks on ‘otherness’ to soothe his sense of social impotence.

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Iago is clearly sociopathic, he sees everything in terms of value to him, including people. He loves Desdemona for the fact she is a pawn he can use, he assures the audience he only talks to Roderigo for his financial use, he describes sex with Emilia as an ‘office’, and complains that she talks too much, as his wife that is not her use.

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The metaphor for Desdemona and Othello's relationship is "string instruments", suggesting the vulnerability and declicacy of their relationship. Iago is controlling the strings - "tune the pegs"

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Whilst Iago is presented as misogynistic and malicious especially towards women, this could be due to Jacobean context as there are particular views concerning the perfect paradoxical woman "the virgin mother"

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The key theme in the passage is sexual appetite. Iago portrays Desdemona as lustful, desperate to trade Othello for a more refined Cassio. Racial and female stereotypes also dominate. Iago refers to Othello not by his name but as 'the Moor', calling him 'the devil' (2.1.216) and 'defective' (2.1.220), a racist portrayal which makes Desdemona's unfaithfulness more believable to Roderigo

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sexual appetite- Iago presents Desdemona as lustful and desperate to trade Othello for the more socially acceptable Cassio. He plays on racial and female stereotypes to make his lie seem more believable

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Iago's power over Roderigo is emphasised through his sentence structure. Repeated imperatives begin the speech: 'Come hither' (2.1.206), 'Lay thy finger thus', 'let thy soul be instructed', 'Mark me' (2.1.212). All are instructions to be quiet and listen, which Roderigo submissively obeys

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Iago plays on sexual jealousy - presents Desdamona as lustful and desperate in trying to trade othello for cassio. Uses the symbol of the handkerchief in order to cause Desdmonas downfall but also causes Othello to turn mad with jealousy - leads to the death of Desdamona

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Homosexuality
There are homosexual undertones between Othello and iago. At the end of act3 scene 3, othello's conversation with iago has been said to echo an Elizabethan wedding. Iago says "I am your own forever" (act 3, scene3)

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Iago manipulates the positive traits of the characters, using and presenting them as weaknesses. Desdemona’s naivety and kindness is turned to foolishness, Othello’s pride turned to jealousy.

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Iago makes it clear that his object is discord. The metaphor of Othello and Desdemona as ‘well tuned’ string instruments (2.1.191–92) portrays their current harmony but also implies their vulnerability: it is not difficult for Iago to ‘set down the pegs’ – fiddle with the tuning keys – of their relationship. His control of their heartstrings mirrors his control of Roderigo’s purse strings (1.1.2–3).