"Iago, as Harold Goddard finely remarked, is always at war; he is a moral pyromaniac setting fire to all of reality.......In Iago, what was the religion of war, when he worshiped Othello as its god, has now become the game of war, to be played everywhere except upon the battlefield."
--Harold Bloom
To respond to this passage, one should mostly focus on the shift from a religion to a game. How would you prove that this insightful comment is true? Of course, in order to prove this idea is true, do not fail to incorporate the excellent idea of "a moral pyromaniac" in this shift.
Iago burns all things moral and good alive. He is crazed about the fire that comes from his actions and utterly fascinated by the power that he has over mankind. For them to do just as he wishes without question or suspicion drives him absolutely insane with lust over his own creativity. His desire to kill and destroy everything that Othello cared about started off as a religion. It was carefully planned and he followed his plans like a ritual, but the more he burned and watched his fire decimate the more his mind turned over the thought of utter war with Othello. Iago started to think of all the things that Othello had supposedly done to him and all that he could gain from Othello's death and destruction. His mind started to fill with lust for his own creativity and the war was started. The careful planning of the religion was gone in his mind; he started to think on whim and as a result Cassio was not killed, but Roderigo was. He had missed a small detail of Roderigo not being completely and totally willing to kill Cassio. There was some doubt in Roderigo's mind, for if there had not been any doubt the plan would have carried out just as the religion had planned. Something held Roderigo back. Iago had let the pyromaniac side take over and had let all religion go. It was the RISK and he was determined to take over all morality.
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