Iago: The Strategies of Evil

(Paperback)

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From one of the greatest Shakespeare scholars of our time, Harold Bloom presents Othellos Iago, perhaps the Bards most compelling villainthe fourth in a series of five short books about the great playwrights most significant personalities.

Few antagonists in all of literature have displayed the ruthless cunning and deceit of Iago. Denied the promotion he believes he deserves, Iago takes vengeance on Othello and destroys him.

One of William Shakespeares most provocative and culturally relevant plays, Othello is widely studied for its complex and enduring themes of race and racism, love, trust, betrayal, and repentance. It remains widely performed across professional and community theatre alike and has been the source for many film and literary adaptations. Now award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom investigates Iagos motives and unthinkable actions with razor-sharp insight, agility, and compassion. Why and how does Iago use lies and deceptionthe fake news of the 15th centuryto destroy Othello and several other characters in his path What can Othello tell us about racism

Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, treating Shakespeares characters like people he has known all his life. He delivers exhilarating intimacy and clarity in these pages, writing about his shifting understandingover the course of his own lifetimeof this endlessly compelling figure, so that Iago also becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our humanity. There are few readers more astute than Bloom (Publishers Weekly), and his Iago is a provocative study for our time.

Reviews

Praise for Iago: The Strategies of Evil

"There are few readers more astute than Bloom...the true value of Blooms sensitive reading lies in his ability to articulate his emotional response to the play. He leaves readers with a memorable new perspective on Othello."Publishers Weekly
Praise forLear: The Great Image of Authority

At the outset of this pithy exegesis of King Lear, Bloom describes the plays title characters as one of Shakespeares most challenging personalitiesBloom guides the reader scene by scene through the play, quoting long but well-chosen swaths of text and interjecting commentary that reveals the nuances of Shakespeares word choiceshe is also deft at bringing out dramatic contrasts between charactersBlooms short, superb book has a depth of observation acquired from a lifetime of study, and the author knows when to let Shakespeare and his play speak for themselves.Publishers Weekly
"Ameasured, thoughtful assessment of a key play in the Shakespeare canon...Bloom brings this dark tale of a king in search of love to life via his incisive close reading of the text.Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Cleopatra: I Am Fire and Air

"A masterfully perceptive reading of this seductive play's endless wonders."Kirkus Review
Bloom draws upon his extensive reading to place the characters and the story in context alongside the histories from which the plot was adaptedthose who have read the play or seen it performed will find Blooms passion to be infectious. Recommended for Shakespeare enthusiasts and readers seeking a deeper understanding of one of his greatest creations.Library Journal
Bloom brings considerable expertise and his own unique voice to this book.Publishers Weekly
Praise forFalstaff: Give me Life

"Famed literary critic and Yale professor Bloom showcases his favorite Shakespearian character in this poignant work... Hehas created a larger-than-life portrait of a character who is 'at his best a giant image of human freedom.'"Publishers Weekly
"In this first of five books about Shakespearean personalities, Bloom brings erudition and boundless enthusiasm."Kirkus Reviews, starred review
[Blooms] last love letter to the shaping spirit of his imagination An explanation and reiteration of why Falstaff matters to Bloom, and why Falstaff is one of literatures vital forces A pleasure to read.Jeanette Winterson,New York Times Book Review
Praise forHamlet: Poem Unlimited

"To read this book is to hear a powerful call to fall in love again with Shakespeare and his plays... I can think of no more engaging and nourishing pair of literary works: a drama of towering, perhaps unmatched, genius joining an exquisite work of literary criticism by a scholar of genuine greatness."Baltimore Sun
"A deeply felt reverie onHamlet,a latter-day example of the genial impressionist criticism practiced by Walter Pater, John Ruskin, and Oscar Wilde."Washington Post Book World
"Brilliant... Will give you a night of full joy and make you forget current events."Newsday
Praise forShakespeare: The Invention of the Human

"Not perhaps since Samuel Johnson in the mid-eighteenth century has a critic explained to a general audience as ably as Mr. Bloom does how much Shakespeare matters to our sense of who we are."The New York Times
"Should this be the one book you read if you're going to read a book about Shakespeare Yes."New York Observer
"Enraptured, incantatory... You could hardly ask for a more capacious, beneficent work."The New Yorker

Author Bio

Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He has written more than sixty books, including Cleopatra: I Am Fire and Air, Falstaff: Give Me Life, The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, and How to Read and Why. He is a MacArthur Prize fellow, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the recipient of many awards, including the Academys Gold Medal for Criticism. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.