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The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1950, 19, No. 2, p. 202.
Shakespeare's Othello is studied as a case history of the psychopathology of Iago who is considered the protagonist of the play. He is unconsciously in love with Othello. The drama is produced by Iago's attempts to keep this emotion under repression while achieving his instinctual goal, the elimination of his rival, Desdemona. Reference is made to Cinthio's original story Il Moro di Venezia in which Iago is the one who kills Desdemona while she is in the bed-chamber with Othello. By arousing jealousy in Othello, Iago frees himself of the burden of his own jealousy and prevents awareness of his homosexual wishes. Freud's criteria of delusional jealousy are applied to Iago's behaviour.
Author's Abstract.