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Many critics have debated over the question of whether Othello’s Iago had any real motives or if his actions were all without purpose. One such critic, Samuel Taylor Coleridge aptly describes Othello’s Iago as being a villain of “motive-less Malignity”. In other words, Iago’s only reason for destroying the lives of the characters in the play is that he is an evil person. He plots and schemes in order to meet his own selfish ends. On the surface it may seem that Iago has many reasons to do what he does. For example, he is angry that Cassio was promoted to lieutenant over him and he suspects both Cassio and Othello have slept with Iago’s wife, Emilia. While any of these may have the possibility of being Iago’s true motive, through his actions and thoughts, it is obvious that these reasons are only to justify his actions and they serve as a disguise to mask his insecurities, racism and innate distrust of women. Iago’s first alleged motive that begins him on his path of evil scheming and planning destruction, is his resentment over the fact that Othello promoted Cassio to the position of lieutenant instead of Iago. He felt that he had more experience in battle than Cassio, so this move was a major slap in the face. Fe