The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-08-03

fication of unrelieved wickedness and
one may wonder whether in presenting
this supreme scoundrel the great dram
atist has not gone too far. The mind
of man revolts at such unmitigated
baseness and is apt to call it unreal.
But while it is true that such charac-
ter is not, thank God, often met with,
it is valuable to realize the extent of
of turpitude possible to human nature.
Can one set the limits to which human
ity may go in degradation? There are
possibilities of unspeakable depths of
infamy-at least in the earlier develop
ments of character in every human
soul. 1t was this thought that made
the godly man say to his friend as they
saw criminal being led to the gallows,
'There but for the grace of God goes
myself. Iago is william and his vii
liany affects others. He was an evil
influence out of whom harm and sin ra-
dated to others. As consequence of
his crooked courses five lives besides
his own met with violent ends. Evil
passions were..unchained the happiness
of many lives were blighted. For no
one can be good or bad to himself
alone. In some way his goodness or his
badness willinfuence the lives of others.
lago tempted others to sin. There are
those who do wrong themselves but
will not if possible be the means of
leading Others into wrong courses!
Iago plays upon the weakness of his
fellow men. He plays upon Roderijo.
Roderijo is the weak william of the play.
Immense potentialities for evil are in
him. but are constantly being checked
by timidity or by some faint STRINGS
of concience, But every time he fall
ters this "demi-devil" is at his elbow
to egg him on. Vicious as he is at
heart he would not have committed
overt acts of crime had it not been
for the evsr-ready prompting and
squirting on of Iago. May then Roder-
ijo throw the blame of his conduct on
his tempter? May he say'I was weak
and this strong will dominated me and
compelled me to do what did? "No.
Such defense will not hold, Weakness
is deplorable but weakness never need
be falseness''. Had he not been vici-
GUS at heart he would not have been
ensnared, The cidatel of his integrity
would not have fallen at any attack
| do hol hot
the garrison within was traitorous and
in league with the assailants. There
have been attempts made to clear per-
sons accused of crime on the score
that they were hypnotized and did the
deed under the irresistible compulsion
of stronger will but such pleas have
always been disallowed. In hypnotic
experiments the subject at the bidding
of the experimenter will plunge dag
ger of wood into a cushion under the
suggestion that ne is stabbing his enc
my, but he will not strike living
creature with dagger of steel. Rod
erijo sinned because whatever strength
of temptation he himself wanted great
ly to sin. His soul was receptive soil
for the seed of evil suggestions.
And Iago plays on Cassie. Cassie
has the appetite for drink and Iago
knowing this commits the unspeakable
meanness of tempting him to drink.
There are fewer more contemplate
things in life than for one man to tease
former slave of drink to put the
shackles of the cursed appetite upon
himself again. This Iago does to Cas-
sio and this scholar, the gentleman, the
soldiers eft to stand before Caesar"
"puts an enemy between his lips to
steal away his brains" makes beast
and fool of himself. Had he only stood
| firm and refused to touch drop a
necessary link in the chain of evil that
Iago was forging would have been
lacking. So also Iago plays with
Othello and his weapon is caluminous
insinuation. By little hints and suspic-
ions artfully dropped just at the right
time he lashed the volcanic, tropical ma
ture of the Moor into fury that trans
ports him beyond reason and leads him
to murder. With perfect art he plays
with his victim as a fisherman plays
with trout. lagos speciality is Hypo-
crisy. He wears a mask. The poor
unsnspecting victims whom he is en-
snaring to their doom all speak highly
of him. He is "a man of honesty and
trust" "full of love and honesty 20
brave Iago honest and just" good
Iago" and so or. Hypocrisy an invent
cd commitment tn ooodness and chris