Analyzing Iagos speech

What is happening in this speech?

In this speech Iago is speaking to Rodrigo and trying to convince him to follows Othello and the wars in Cyprus buy putting money in Iago's purse for safe passage.

What Techniques does Iago employ to persuade Rodrigo to  go to Cyprus?

Iago uses two main techniques to convince Rodrigo to go to Cyprus The first is by agenda setting which is  the use of statements or questions to lead the direction of a conversation. Iago does this when he asks Rodrigo "Drown thyself?,"(1.3.331) He is setting the topic to what Rodrigo can do instead of killing himself which is putting money in Iago's purse and going to Cyprus to wait for Desdemona to get bored of Othello. The second technique Iago uses to convince Rodrigo are imperative verbs and sentences. Imperative verbs and sentences are commands, the command Iago repeats is " Put money in thy purse."(1.3.335) The word put is used as a command to tell Rodrigo to pay Iago to follow him to Cyprus. This imperative sentence is Iago telling Rodrigo what to do persuading him that Iago has the right idea to win Desdemona.

How does Shakespeare present Iago in this speech?

Shakespeare presents Iago as cunning and duplicitous in this speech by having him use different techniques such as imperative speech and lexical field to convince Rodrigo to go to Cyprus for Iago's financial gain and profit. He uses imperative speech to tell Iago to give him money to follow the wars "Put money in thy purse,"(1.3.335) But then he uses words in the lexical field of food such as " coloquintida,"(1.3.345) meaning a sour apple and "luscious," (1.3.343) to describe Desdemona's sexual appetite  and how Othello will seem "luscious" to her as first but then her feeling towards him will turn sour. This shows Iago as a manipulator because he can use these techniques to convince Rodrigo to do what he tells him too .