Iago's Soliloquy, 1.1 lines 40-47.

"I follow him to serve my turn upon him.
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly followed. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender, and when he's old, cashiered.

In this soliloquy, Iago uses the discourse of service to illustrate that, philosophically, he lays at the center of his own world. While there are people who are loyal and dutiful, they are only fools, and he wants his choices and actions to be of his own decision. Unlike his “master’s ass” who only work for food and clothing, in “obsequious bondage”, Iago’s service is for his own purposes and ends. Because this soliloquy occurs at the beginning of the play, it sets up the idea that through his self-centered philosophy, manipulative nature, and lack of loyalty, Iago is the mastermind behind the play’s action and the cause of the character’s future destruction.

Molly Foltyn
Waldo, 1H