IAGO AND JAFAR

     Iago from Shakespeare's "Othello" is very similar to Jafar from Disney's Aladdin. While both characters are driven by their greed for power, both go about it in varying ways. They both start with manipulation of other characters, but quickly deviate from one another. However, the two are more alike than they are different. 

     Although audiences know that Jafar is driven by greed and desire, audiences do not know what Iago's motivation is. It is simple to determine that Iago wants power and feels wronged by Othello, however, audiences are not given more information than that to determine what makes him hate Othello so much. However, audiences can see why Jafar wants to get rid of Aladdin. With his plans to marry Jasmine and become the Sultan (king), Aladdin is the only one in the movie that stands in his way. When thwarted, he reacts badly and ends up trying to kill not only Aladdin but Jasmine as well. Yet, when Iago was discovered he did nothing. Jafar fights back, but Iago seems to accept his fate. It seems that Iago did not care what happened to him as long as he got his revenge. 

     These two scenes from a performance of "Othello" and Aladdin, show how the two characters reacted to other characters in the story. While I have already discussed how Jafar doesn't like Aladdin and Iago doesn't like Othello, I thought it would help to include these videos. Iago seems to be fully aware of his actions and how they will effect others around him. He also seems to be hoping that the effects ripple down to certain people such as Desdemona. His hatred for Othello seems to be attaching itself to other individuals at this moment in the play as he begins to target other characters as well as Othello. However, Jafar is portrayed much differently. He seems to be going crazy, but is still able to formulate a plan to get rid of Aladdin. The following video shows how Jafar is in-between sanity and madness because of his desire for power and desire for retribution on Aladdin.

     While Jafar and Iago share many characteristics in their struggle for power, they are differentiated by their reaction to defeat. In the videos that I found, Iago does not react strongly to his fate. However, it could be because of the death of Othello, Desdemona and his own wife that caused Iago to not react as strongly. Iago got a part of what he wanted: Othello out of the picture. The scene shows Cassio forcing Iago to look at where/what his actions has caused, but there is no reaction from Iago. However, Jafar is a very different story. Instead of accepting his defeat/capture as Iago does, he fights and tries to get out of the situation until Aladdin traps him in the lamp. His greed for power in this scene only increases as he realizes that there are others with more power than him. His own greed for power becomes his downfall.