Villains, Sin and Sex in Othello and King LearMany of Shakespeare's plays are littered with crude and graphic sexual references, jokes and insults. But there is one type of character present in Shakespeare's plays that distorts sexual imagery and repartee: that is the villain. There is a deep-rooted combination between sex and evil. This essay will develop this idea in depth by focusing on Iago from Othello and Edmund from King Lear. Iago is probably considered one of Shakespeare's greatest villains. He is calm, cool, serene and, quite simply: brilliant. He manipulates Othello, Cassio, the land lieutenant, Roderigo, Desdemona's scorned suitor, her father Brabantio and his own wife Emilia with such skill and ease that it is not possible to stop him until it's not too late. But what is this great skill that he exercises on his victims? What hideous power could Iago possess to pull the strings of the great puppeteer? It's sex. Although Iago is not a sexual being per say, he certainly wields a sexually sharp blade when he begins to attack his victims. In the grand scheme of things, he's angry that Othello passed him over for the rank of lieutenant, and Iago wants revenge. In order to carry out his vendetta against the moor, he uses a sexually charged plan that carefully trains others to unwittingly help him achieve his goal. In the very first scene of the play, Iago calls upon the abandoned suitor Roderigo to begin his revenge. The moor has secretly married Desdemona, and now Iago plans to begin his downfall by informing his father. Roderigo is forced into this plot by his own lust for the senator's daughter, whom Iago exploits to the fullest of his abilities. While trying to wake Br...... middle of paper ......akespeare presents the philosophical models. London: Mass Peter Smith, 1968. Campbell, Lily B. Shakespeare's Tragic Heroes, Slaves of Passion. Gloucester: Peter Smith Publisher Inc., 1973. Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism of Shakespeare's tragedies. A course of lectures on drama and literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Eric A., McCann, ed. Harcourt Brace Jovanovick, Canada Inc., Canada. 1998Snyder, Susan. “Beyond Comedy: Othello” Modern Critical Interpretations, Othello Ed. Harold Bloom, Pub. Chelsea House New Haven CT 1987. (pages 23-37) Norman Sanders, ed. Othello. Cambridge: New York, 1995: 12.J. Adelman. “Iago's Alter Ego: the race as a projection in Othello”, Shakespeare Quarterly v48 summer 1997: 130. Kott, January. Shakespeare Our Contemporary. Garden city: Doubleday & Company, 1994.