I remember when I was in 10th grade I read Othello in English and I wrote in a paper that Iago seemed like a sociopath. I googled "Iago sociopath" to see what other people thought but no one seemed to have written anything about it. Sociopathy obviously wasn't a diagnosed disorder back then so Shakespeare must have based Iago on someone he knew in real life and identified the connection between their personality traits and how they fit together. I totally forgot about this until now. What do you guys think? Does Iago fit the description of a sociopath? Do you think people, or at least Shakespeare, understood the relationship between the characteristics of a sociopath?
>>8222415
They were called "evil" back then, and still are. Psychiatry is bullshit, making fancy terms for stuff that's already been known by intelligent people since the beginning of human history and, incidentally, very good for ostracizing and pathologizing anything that's different from the norm.
>>8222415
sociopathy isn't a diagnosed disorder today you dummy
and no, nobody noticed the habits of crazy people til the DSM came out
>>8222428
Yeah I kind of realized after I posted that it's not really a disorder but it is something that is identifiable by certain personality traits and it just seems interesting that Shakespeare was able to create a character that possesses all the traits of what would now be considered a sociopath by definition
Aretaeus described manic depression 2000 years ago.
>>8222415
People like you irk me greatly
Why are you trying to diagnose a fictional character? Why do you feel compelled to label and categorize?
a) they are FICTIONAL as in they do not need to abide by our rules and norms
b) you have a fragment of their existence presented you through the lens of another to interpret and draw your conclusions from
Is the person Shakespeare based Iago off of a sociopath? Probably, but who cares? A rose by any other name...
>>8222979
It's really more interesting to me from a historical standpoint. It shows that people had a clear concept of these things before they understood them. I guess that's not really a novel concept because of course mental disorders have existed for all of human history but it's just interesting to see them recorded like this
He was just a racist and reflected the mentality of the average 1600s Englishman. 'Othello' was not written as a tragedy in the traditional sense - Shakespeare's audience would have cheered at Othello's death. They were racist AF back then and hated Moors. You have to interpret the text by the culture in which it was made, not through modern glasses and a post-racist outlook.
>>8223078
Iago doesn't have a 'mental disorder'. He is a character.
