Iago (Othello)

666GreatestFictionalVillains in abc order (2021) (610 items)
list by crazymetalhead

Fictional Characters starting with I (28 items)
list by alison15

666GreatestFictionalVillains in abc order (2022) (367 items)
list by crazymetalhead

Crazymetalhead’s 1000 Villains Tribute (325 items)
list by crazymetalhead

Iago (/iˈɑːɡoʊ/) is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hates Othello and devises a plan to destroy him by making him believe that his wife is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio.

The role is thought to have been first played by Robert Armin, who typically played intelligent clown roles like Touchstone in As You Like It and Feste in Twelfth Night.[3]

The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi (1565). There, the character is simply "the ensign".