Manipulations

I think that Shakespeare would roll over in his grave for this comparison, but I am about to draw a connection between Iago and Lisa, from "Girl, Interrupted" The two are master manipulators, and while people don't realize their full intelligence, they are always planning and working the situation to their advantages. They are always two steps ahead, and the situation rarely plays out in ways they didn't anticipate. Obviously I haven't gotten to the end of Othello, so I have no idea how its going to end, but I know how its going right now, and for much of the movie, and the book, the way we are able to realize how they are manipulating the situation and how the characters are oblivious drives me CRAZY! I hate sitting on the sidelines, feeling helpless as the other characters play right into their hands. The entire situation with the hankercheif drives me nuts, I just want to reach in and shake Cassio and Desdemona and Othello and ask them how they can be so oblivious! The same goes for Susanna, the way she lets Lisa push her around, and plants ideas in her head, it seems like it should be obvious, but Lisa and Iago are so good at hiding their true identities it is impossible for their true nature to be revealed.