The idea that "there would be no good without evil" is a good place to start when thinking about Iago and Othello as rival characters in Shakespeare's Othello. The play shows us how good turns into evil in the complex character of Othello, who turns out to be more than a victim of Iago's wrongdoings but also a character who is both good and evil. In Shakespeare's play evil is not something absolute. Evil demonstrates itself as a different quality with each person, perhaps the point when a person forgets moral boundaries and gives way to instincts beyond his or her control. With Othello and Iago, Shakespeare uses characters who bring out opposite qualities in each other. We can imagine circumstances in which goodness can sprout out of evil. However, in Othello's case, the roles are reversed and evil sprouts from goodness. At what point does goodness become evil? Are they boundaries that can be passed, or are the qualities of a character's own judgement? We'll start out with the protagonist. The audience's expectations of Othello are lowered at the start of Act I when Iago presents him as a fiend who steals Desdemona away from her father using magic and enchantments. Later we discover Cassio's and Desdemona's far more elevated views of Othello. We learn about his previous life and not much mystery is involved in discovering what sort of man he is. Othello is not devoid of faults. He is prejudiced, jealous, and most importantly easily manipulated by Iago's schemes. Something about Iago brings out Othello's darker side, which leads to Othello forgetting any morals he had previously developed, ultimately resulting in the murder of Desdemona. Othello has two important depths to his personality. The first is eloquent, loyal, and impressive: he almost try too hard to do what is right. Othello knows he is constantly under the scrutiny of those who are prejudiced against him. Beneath that, Othello is deeply self loathing and insecure. By becoming suspicious of those who are closest to him, he demonstrates an almost subconscious fear that his life might be too good to be true. After years of being frowned upon because of his race, Othello cannot fully believe that Cassio and Desdemona are loyal to him. As for Iago, he has depths that are similar to Othello's. On the outside, Iago seems to have no interest in people's well being, caring only for his jealousy and vengeance against Othello. Beneath that, he demonstrates the same layer of insecurity as Othello. In his discussion with Roderigo, Iago expresses his belief that no human can be truly good. This brings us to one of Iago's most interesting characteristics: mystery. By the end of the play, the audience has a relatively good idea of who Othello is. We learn about his past, his flaws, and his virtues; and we conclude that Othello is not wholly evil. Most readers consider Iago a malevolent character, but one has to remember that we know nothing about his past, who he is, or the reasons behind what he is doing to Othello. In the first act, Shakespeare makes a point that the audience cannot understand any of the characters motives unless it is said aloud to another character, by presenting Othello as someone who steals Desdedoma against her will using witchcraft. Iago appears to have a different motive for destroying Othello every time he talks to a different person, we never discover the true meaning behind his "evil" deeds. One can sympathize with Othello's wrongdoings, saying he was manipulated, insecure, that he had a difficult life and is truly a noble character, however it was he, and not Iago who took his own life as well as the life of the person he loved most, out of false justice. We can conclude that because of this, neither Iago or Othello is good or evil. Both characters have a very complicated way of looking at the world, and have problems putting their trust in people. If there is indeed a constant battle between forces of good and evil, we can conclude that Iago and Othello are not embodiments of it, but have a battle of contradticting forces of good and evil within themselves.