Menacing Evil in Othello In William Shakespeare's tragic drama, Othello, the presence of menacing evil is present in the play from the opening scene to the closing scene. Let's talk about this concept of evil as it manifests itself in the play. H. S. Wilson in his book of literary criticism, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, addresses the character of the ancient general: With such a man all is food for his malice. There is no way to appease him. His ego feeds on the misfortunes he invents for others, and what he feeds on only makes him hungrier. He is resistant to both pity and remorse, as his last conversation with Desdemona and his dark defiance of his captors at the end show us all too painfully. In short, it is the half-devil that Othello finally calls him, half-devil and half-man; yet the smallness of each of its components is formidable, similar to that of a spider and, above all, frighteningly human. (54)In the essay “Wit and Witchcraft: an Approach to Othello” Robert B. Heilman reveals the evil that awaits the reader in Othello: Reason as an ally of evil is a topic to which Shakespeare continues to return, as if fascinated, but in different thematic forms while exploring different counterforces. ]. . .] Although Iago, as we have seen, does not take the ennobling power of love seriously, he does not fail to let us know what he takes seriously. When, in his false oath of allegiance to the "wrong Othello," he swears "The execution of his wit, his hands, his heart" (III.3.466), Iago's words give a clue to his truth: the his heart is his malice, his hands literally wound Cassio and kill Roderigo, and his wits are the genius that creates the whole strategy. (338)With an extraordinary composition of characters Shakespeare made Iago participate, literally or symbolically, in all these modalities of evil. And in Iago he dramatized Dante's summary analysis: «For where the instrument of the mind is joined to bad will and power, men cannot defend themselves from it». But he also dramatized the hidden sources of evil action, the urgency, passion and immediacy of it. He also contemplates the "power" of the criminal and the defenselessness of man: but he interprets these tragically, making them not absolute, but partly dependent on the defects or desires of the victims themselves. (343)First of all, Iago's own words paint him for what he is.