“I follow him to serve my turn upon him.”
– Iago

In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago manipulates everyone he comes into contact with which ultimately leads to the death of Roderigo, Othello, and Desdemona. As a reader, I felt that the characters should have been able to see past the manipulation and prevent the deaths. While in the play, the reader could see everything Iago was doing (dramatic irony), these situations can still happen without you knowing. How can you spot and resist manipulation, control your thoughts, and reduce the risks of escalation?

In our modern world, everyone is connected, and information comes from every direction. Our world is a complex web of influences and pressures from the people we are connected to and the information we are exposed to. One of the mistakes that Othello, Cassio, and Roderigo made, which was exploited by Iago, was that they didn’t talk to each other and share their thoughts. Rather, Iago purposely separated them and radicalized their feelings and desperations. With this point, remember to communicate and connect with others while keeping an eye on the information that you consume and how it affects you.

Work on, My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught,
And many worthy and chaste dames even thus,
All guiltless, meet reproach.
– Iago

In addition, you should be aware of the Dunning Kruger effect, “The unknown unknowns are the ultimate blind spot and they are the reason why it is mandatory that we solicit and listen to the opinions of those who will be affected by our own decisions.” The key strategy is to open up your moral blind spots by communicating to those who will be affected by or care about those actions before you commit them. Applying this to the play, Othello didn’t know for sure if Desdemona was cheating on him but he didn’t realize that he didn’t know if Iago was a manipulator or not. Talking with Desdemona, or questioning and analyzing Iago’s words before his anger built up would have resulted in a better ending.

Keeping an open mind and self-control will allow you to resist manipulation and enhance your critical thinking.

“Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it.”
 – qtd. in Errol Morris