GingerV,

In today's society Shakespeare ‘s Iago would be called a psychopath - not the devil incarnate. In the first scene, he claims to be angry with Othello for having passed him over for the position of lieutenant (I.1). At the end of Act I, scene 3, Iago says he thinks Othello may have slept with his wife, Emilia: "It is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets / He has done my office". The irony of this statement is that in the next line he says that he does not know it for a fact, but because he suspects it, he will act as if for certain. Iago mentions this suspicion again at the end of Act II, scene 1, explaining that he lusts after Desdemona because he wants to get even with Othello "wife for wife" (II.i.286). While none of these claims seems to adequately explain Iago's deep hatred of Othello, Shakespeare ‘s Iago has many "reasons" why he is wicked.

Now, contrast this (admittedly brief) analysis of a complex villain with Verdi’s (yes, I know the librettist was Boito, but Verdi is always referenced) Iago:

I believe in a cruel God who created me in His image, and whom I name in my wrath.
From the baseness of a germ or an atom, basely I was born.
I am wicked because I am a man;
And I feel the primeval slime in me.
Yes! This is my creed!
I believe with a firm heart, just as the young widow in church believes,
That the evil I think, the evil that comes from me,
Is wrought by my destiny.
I believe the honest man is a mocking actor, both in his face and in his heart,
That everything in him is a lie
His tears, kiss, gaze,
Sacrifice, and honor.
And I believe that man is the plaything of unjust fate from the germ of the cradle to the worm of the grave.
After so much derision comes Death.
And then? And then? Death is Nothingness
And heaven an old wives' tale.

Shakespeare ‘s Iago is a more subtle and complex villain, but Verdi’s is "evil among us".

I know this will sound silly, but the only Sethos I know of was a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh. I didn't know that he was a bad guy.

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Eudaimonia