iii.37) to reassure Othello that he knows nothing about Desdemona and Cassio and what they might be doing behind closed doors. This scene allows us to see how manipulative Iago is and how he will say anything to get what he wants. He lies, he plants, seeds of doubt, and he uses Othello's jealousy as a weapon against him. It is important to note that Iago knows something about jealousy because he is jealous himself. It was his jealousy of Cassio's promotion that sparked his motives and he can turn the jealous screw tighter and tighter because he knows how it feels to burn with jealousy. We can call him an expert in the field with firsthand knowledge and, like most criminals, he chooses to use that knowledge for destruction rather than anything else.

Iago is malevolent because he is not just being cruel to rather innocent victims, he is...
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