Blog #3 Far from the Battlefield

"Iago, as Harold Goddard finely remarked, is always at war; he is a moral pyromaniac setting fire to all of reality.......In Iago, what was the religion of war, when he worshiped Othello as its god, has now become the game of war, to be played everywhere except upon the battlefield."
--Harold Bloom


Harold Bloom and Harold Goddard are right, Iago is a moral pyromaniac and he does play a game of war anywhere but the battlefield. To prove this right one needs only to read the play Othello. Personally, I believe that we, as the readers, come into the play after the shift from war as a religion to war as a game. I believe this, because, while Iago has obviously been a part of Othello's life for a time, he has come to hate Othello because he was passed over for a promotion. As for being a moral pyromaniac, he does seem to ignite most everyone's passions by lying about various actions, and being not too moral himself. However, he does this through tricks and other people, which could symbolically represent the battlefield. All that he does to hurt Othello, Cassio, and others is usually done sneakily or not directly, on the battlefield.