Iago

And perhaps we know what it looks like on other people and maybe we're jealous of that.

Iago, you know, maybe we want we're jealous.

We want something that someone else has.

It doesn't mean, you know, for me to understand Macbeth or Lady Macbeth that like I have to have a husband that I'm going to convince him to kill a king for.

And so I think that by and large, she does this brilliantly, brilliantly.

And so you can look at the structures of the novels, but at the same time, you can admire greatly those characters who are portrayed in a way which definitely shows that Keatsian negative capability to take as much as delight in an Iago as an Imogen, as the letter has it in Keats's And it is certainly true that she takes just as much delight in her Julius Kings as she does in her Tavis or one of her other characters of the good.

Interestingly, at the moment, I'm just working on a chapter for my book about goodness and how it is manifested.

I realized as I started to think about it and who are the good characters, in Murdoch, and they are always these selfless people, very often they seem rather insubstantial.

Every character that he created has got their own integrity.

And he takes delight in creating them, I'm sure.

And I wouldn't say that he takes more delight in creating somebody ghastly like Iago.

I think he takes delight in creating many, many interesting characters who are what we would call more good characters.

I love his work.

His Iago and Othello is amazing.

The one with Lawrence Fishburne.

Again, if you like Shakespeare, watch that movie.

Let's hear it for Japan's Kanoe Igarashi.

Kanoa making the final here last year with Iago.

Got him in the rematch in the semis.

And continues his run with consistency, flying into the postseason.

And Jesse, looking at this top ten, particularly the top five, when you think about a world title and who is best out of that to round this year out, what name is standing out to you?

Man, those are big names.

And I feel like if we go on to the next top, we have three past champions there, Gabriel, Italo and Iago.

I got to go with Iago.

Right, right, yeah, making the beast with two backs.

That's right, that is from Othello as well in the beginning, right, where Iago is trying to...

Yeah, but this one comes from him saying many...

this is that apostrophic line where Yago is saying many events in the womb of time, uh, which will be delivered, right.

What does that mean? Too long, didn't read.

It's like Iago to Othello.

It's the eye of jealousy, the eye of envy, the eye that wishes unwell, the eye that sees Ellie's substack blow up and says, why not my substack? The eye that says, why is their marriage so good? Why is my marriage so bad? Why is their child so obedient? How do they get a big house? How is their house so big? That's Nazar.

And then to protect yourself from Nazar, the evil eye, you give to charity, you know, you give to the poor, you recite prayers.

And a lot of people say, I don't believe in these spiritual dimensions, the metaphysical reality of Nazar, right? But what I mentioned in the book also is you don't have to believe in that aspect of it, even though many cultures do.

There's a practical aspect of human nature, such as Iago and Othello.

His Nazar is a catalyst for catastrophe and tragedy that falls upon Othello.

And I think you explained one of the worst Hela Nazars was...

But with basketball.

Except instead of Iago fucking up Othello's life because he's a jealous little piss baby, it's Hugo fucking up Odin's life at prep school also because he's a jealous little piss baby.

With supporting characters Desi/Desdemona, Emily/Emilia, Roger/Rodrigo, and my favorite Michael/Michael.

Sorry, Andrew Keegan.

if we're going to say, "Why didn't they just talk to each other," well, then, we're not reading Shakespeare.

We're, we're talking about [laughs] something else entirely, because the one thing Billy Shakes loves more than anything is to not have his people have a very obvious conversation that would circumvent a lot of problems.

But no, I mean, Othello is my favorite tragedy, and Iago is my favorite character, I think, of all, like, all of the Shakespearean characters, because he is unrepentantly evil, and he doesn't really have, like, a reason.

Like, yes, he's like, "Oh, I should've gotten this promotion.

Each discovered that the other wore secret armor without learning that it had just been assumed.

The two close friends were thus converted by a plotting Iago into distrustful enemies, each fearing and on guard against assassination by the other.

The affair ended tragically.

Grimoald was no sooner fully convinced of the truth of what had been told him than he slew his supposed enemy, deeming it necessary to save his own life.