Iago's Master Plan

Iago has multiple reasons to be angry with Othello. Iago has been denied the Lieutenancy by Othello, who gave the position, instead, to Cassio. Iago feels that he deserves the Lieutenancy, so he has devised a master plan.

The first piece of his puzzle is Desdemona. He has been hearing rumors that the Moor has been sleeping with his own wife, whom he does not even like. He still feels wronged, and will act upon these rumors as if they are fact. This leads him to decide that he will create the illusion that Desdemona has been unfaithful to Othello with Cassio.

When Othello won Desdemona over, and married her, she left her father’s side for Othello. Brabantio offers a seemingly insignificant warning to Othello, saying that “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.”(pg.42.Act1.Scene3.line293) If Iago intends to create such an illusion as Desdemona leaving Othello; the seeds of doubt have already been sown.

This also causes a problem for Rodrigo, whom Iago has already convinced he will help get Desdemona. If Cassio and Desdemona appear together, this will cause tension between Rodrigo and Cassio, which would not have existed in the first place if not for Iago.

If his plans have any hope of succeeding, Cassio is certainly not hindering the plans, as he over-exaggerates the kissing of Desdemona’s hand. If he continues to act in such a way and the Moor discovers this, along with doubt planted by Brabantio and Iago, it will play right into Iago’s hand. Iago has proven himself as a two-faced liar, and a manipulative man. He does not like anyone in this novel, so far, and he only serves himself, yet he will keep up the appearance of being loyal to Othello.

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Unferth, a wannabe hero, has drank too much of the sweet mead. Feeling emboldened by this liquid courage, Unferth calls out a challenge to Beowulf's Hero status in an attempt to tarnish the mighty warrior's reputation. The jealous drunk brings to a light a swimming race across an ocean in which Beowulf, according to Unferth, lost. In Unferth's version of events Beowulf finished the race coming in second place to Brecca.

There are essentially 3 ways in which our hero, Beowulf, responds to this verbal assault from Unferth. His first response is to correct the claim that Beowulf lost. This was either a lie told to Unferth and he needs to get his facts straight, or the sleaze bag himself is lying. Secondly, the mighty Geat explains why it may have appeared as if he were going to lose. As he and Brecca were swimming, neck and neck, he spotted a group of sea monsters and, being the absolute badass that he is, decided that he would slay the beasts before returning to win the aforementioned race.

After killing the monsters, he resumes the race and proceeds to beat Brecca. Now that Beowulf has defended this attack on his honor, and successfully repelled it, he must turn this insult around and beat Unferth at his own game. He questions the coward as to why, if he has the guts, or the stupidity, to question Beowulf, hadn't he simply dispatched of Grendel himself? Why was it that Beowulf was needed to get rid of the abomination if Unferth was such a great warrior? Not only was Beowulf more of a man than Unferth because he was going to fight the monster, but he was going to do so naked! No weapons, no armor, and just his brute strength were enough to slay the beast by tearing one of its limbs from its socket! Our warrior is now a hero to the people of this new land, and has proven himself to be a far braver man then Unferth.