Our world needs the concept of evil.

Without it we would be stuck describing

situations such as the killings of a serial killer as wrong or bad, and these words do
not capture the necessary descriptions of these actions. Evil is, in simple terms, to be
morally wrong or bad; immoral (Evil). In the play, Othello, Shakespeare uses Iago to
display the presence of evil and corruption in human nature. William Shakespeare is
conveying to the reader that there will always be evil in this world, and no one can stop
that evil; you can only contain it. The evilness of an individual can bring out the worst in
anyone and is displayed by Othello becoming corrupt due to Iagos lying and deceiving
scheme.
David Hume was an 18th century philosopher who was known for his exceptional
philosophical skepticism and empiricism. Hume declared, The corruption of the best
things gives rise to the worst (Hume). In the play, Iago is a morally corrupt, deceiving,
lying, untrustworthy, and an evil person. Othello represents the good in this world while
Iago represents the evil in this world. This is evident through Iagos speech. Iago states
the following:
Were I the Moor I would not be Iago.
In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so for my peculiar end.
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at. I am not what I am. (I.i.5765)
Iago doesnt follow Othello out of respect, rather he follows him because he knows how
to manipulate Othello. He knows the type of character Othello is and uses his power of

manipulation in order to basically take over Othellos mind and have him proceed to
carry out his actions of evil. The reader becomes aware of Iagos plan after he
proclaimed, In following him I follow but myself;/Heaven is my judge,/not I for love and
duty,/But seeming so for my peculiar end, (I.i.5765). This saying by Iago directly
translates to I may seem to love and obey him, but in fact, Im just serving him to get
what I want, (No Fear Shakespeare). The translation indicates that Iago is evil. He is
pretending to show loyalty to his leader, Othello, but he really plans on manipulating him
by having him cause his own demise. Furthermore, he kills Desdemona to relieve his
anger without sufficient evidence that she was doing anything wrong. This leads to
Othello killing himself after it is revealed to him that Desdemona did nothing wrong, and
he killed her because of deception. Without Iagos presence, Othello would never even
contemplate killing Desdemona; however, Iagos evilness brings out Othellos worse
characteristics.
Despite the fact Othello killed Desdemona out of pure jealousy and rage, he is
still seen as a morally good person. Iago used his tactics to deceive Othello and cause
him to act in an evil manner. Before Iago started his master plan, Othello was a very
powerful figure and a well renowned military general. He just started his marriage with
Desdemona and his life was very tranquil. Othello gave a promotion to Cassio, which
enraged Iago because he believed he deserved the position of lieutenant and sought
revenge upon both Othello and Cassio. Iagos fight with Cassio and Othello represent
the main basis of evil, as Iago is using his evil nature to try to corrupt Othello and
Cassio and turn their flawed natures. Iago somewhat succeeds, as he achieves the goal
of corrupting Cassio and Othello, but in the end no one won as Emilia and Desdemona

were dead, Othello was a tragic character, as he was neither good nor evil, and Iago
was arrested to be punished for what he had done. Othello is unable to see the truth in
some situations as he is blinded by pride, so his flaws are easily manipulated. He is a
good man and a great soldier, but his good was distorted and he committed an evil act.
This story represents a tragedy as tragedy occurs when someone or somethings
innocence is destroyed, just as Desdemonas was by her death. One could explain that
she didnt have to suffer her destiny as she represents the goodness in the play by
doing nothing wrong and only trying to help, and love, her friends. Othello represents
the space between good and evil as he is blinded by his self-interests from making
decisions that would be the best for everyone and because of this people on each side
die.
A 18th century philosopher and author, Edmund Burke, had many different
theories on many different beliefs, one of which is evil. Burke once stated, The only
thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing (Burke). Iago was
an evil human being, but not only was he evil, he was manipulative and a genius but
used his talents for bad rather than the good. He was able to manipulate everyone
around him to do what he wanted to be done in order to achieve his goal of revenge and
get him the promotion he believed he deserved. Shakespeare uses the play Othello to
show that the evilness of an individual can bring out the worst in another. Othello shows
this by succumbing to Iagos manipulative and evil scheme. Even though this play was
written in 1603, evil still exists in the world today and will never go away. Evil is all about
perception and everyone has a different opinion. For example, those from America
would most likely look at the current situation with ISIS and say what the terrorists in

that organization are doing is evil while those that are in ISIS would argue that what
America is doing about the situation is evil. Another example is the newly found and
released CIA torturing tactics. Did the torturing help the US find Osama Bin Laden or did
they have no affect on the finding of the worlds number one terrorist? But wait! Is
Osama Bin Laden actually a terrorist? Just as the CIA defends their torturing tactics
Osama Bin Laden would defend his terrorist acts. So is what Iago did actually evil, or
are they only evil because the play focused mostly on Othellos side of this situation?
There are two sides to every story, and one persons point of view on evil is created by
which side theyre on.