In Othello, Shakespeare strips bare the moral structure of civilized society, exposing the primordial struggle between good and evil. In the author's twisted battle of lust and desire, the fallacies of human nature are his strongest weapons. By author, I mean not Shakespeare but Iago.
From imagery to setting to language, Shakespeare clearly reveals the play's overarching shift from refined to primitive. The scene opens in the royal beauty of Venice; by Act V, it has descended into the chaos of war-torn Cyprus. Running perfectly parallel to the change in language, the change in language conveys the growing subconscious tension. While the first Acts are dominated by flowery monologues and rythmic meter, the later ones are characterized by hurried speech and flagrant urgency.
At the deepest layer of imagery and metaphor, the play's language shifts from allusions of romance to allusions of despair. These two emotions are, of course, interrelated and brilliantly played off each other throughout the play. To provide adequate detail of this transformation, compare Iago's raunchy comparison of sexual relations to a garden with Othello's sensationalization of the events as a deep and dark ocean.
By tearing into readers' consciences with well-placed literary devices, Shakespeare allows Iago to fuse with the inner soul as pure evil. Every moral construct has no bearing by the end of the play. Iago becomes the ultimate moral relativist, ignoring any universal sense of right and wrong. Instead, he capitalizes on all the other characters' morality, pitting them against each other with nearly Satanic mastery.
In doing so, Iago controls humanity. He tears apart the fabric of society at the behest of his pyromanic anger. He deconstructs glory and honor and reputation, all to satisfy his own personal desires.
In doing so, Iago is controlled by humanity. Though on the surface he conquers hearts and minds, his own soul lays in ruin, torn apart by the same emotional complexes he exploited in others.
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Iago is not controlled by humanity"In doing so," he is controlled by humanity before doing so. Iago was jealous of the other characters' human virtue and they controlled him through his jealousy. Iago, like all humans, is controlled by his humanity before doing anything. Moral pyromania in Iago is not about Iago being controlled though. Instead it is about Iago losing control of his moral pyromania. In the end, when he loses control, Iago burns everything, including Emilia's virtuous loyalty to her husband, and all that is left of morals is Iago's brand of damning honesty. So, with this honesty, Emilia outs Iago's evil plan. Iago, "In following Othello, he follows himself" into his own fire. Also, Iago's soul is not "left in ruins" and for the reason stated above.
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