Many scholars and critics have suggested that William Shakespeare (1564-1616) "borrowed" the plots of his plays from various sources, such as tragic plays by the ancient Greeks and Romans and other European writers who lived during and before the so-called "English Renaissance" which can be defined as a historical/literary period marked by tales containing "a violent sequence of events (and) built on the central core themes of 'murder and revenge . As pointed out by James P. Draper, Shakespeare's "historical plays . . . borrow heavily from contemporary English stories, and his plays often incorporate aspects of English folklore" (3151). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Yet characters in plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, and especially Othello appear to be based on real people; in Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark was ascribed to the Historia Dancia, a Latin text by the 12th-century historian Saxo Grammaticus, while Macbeth is derived from the story of Duncan, an ancient Scottish king. This seems to apply to Othello as well, as Michael Dobson argues that Shakespeare "derived the greater part of the plot...from a story contained in Cinthio's Hecatommithi," published in a French translation in 1584 (330). With this in mind, one might say that Shakespeare's characters are "mirrors of our nature" who have "expanded our world by imitating it" (Biography of William Shakespeare, Internet). But looking more closely at the text of Othello, one character in particular stands out above all the other Iagos, "a character who essentially writes the main plot of the play... and gives first-hand direction to the others, particularly the nobleman moor, Othello" (Moore, All Shakespeare). According to the great English essayist and scholar William Hazlitt, the character of Iago "is one of the superheroes of Shakespeare's genius", due to the fact that Iago's "wickedness is without sufficient motive" (345). Othello is one of the four great tragedies written during Shakespeare's period of desperation, when the bard seemed interested in the struggle of good against evil. Iago, Othello's villain, is perhaps the most sadistic and downright evil character in all of English literature, and his final downfall illustrates the triumph of love over hate, a key theme in many of Shakespeare's plays. Iago, an ensign serving under Othello, the Moorish Commander of Venice's armed forces, is also the most interesting and puzzling character in Othello. This is supported not only by what he says in the play but also through his actions, both of which allow him to skillfully manipulate those in his orbit to boost his enormous ego and push him closer to his personal, evil goals. Furthermore, Iago, seen through Othello's eyes, "was above all 'honest', his real faults being those of an excess of honesty" (Bradley on Othello, Internet) which surely reflects his devious nature and ability to hide his true intentions in plain sight. Oddly enough, the character of Iago in Othello shares some very similar traits with a notorious high-ranking individual who lived during the English Renaissance period and most likely influenced the young William Shakespeare, as in September 1586, Sir Anthony Babington (b. 1561) , "descended from a family of great antiquity" (Stephen 780), was hanged for his activities concerning the conspiracy to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I in order for Mary, Queen of Scots, to ascend the throne of England. Babington's personal history, much like Iago's, is rife with betrayals and deceptions that helped him manipulatehis conspirators and the English monarchy towards its selfish goals. In April 1586, when twenty-two-year-old William Shakespeare was perhaps living in London as a consummate struggling writer, Sir Anthony Babington decided to take the lead role in the task of organizing the conspiracy to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and her best advisors and secure their release of Mary Stuart, the young Scottish queen, from her imprisonment at Chartley, the home of Sir Amias Paulet. Six conspirators were given the task of assassinating Elizabeth I, while Babington was given the task of freeing Mary Stuart. But in September, all of the conspirators, including Babington, were taken prisoner and dutifully hanged “near the turnpike…where a convenient scaffold was erected for the execution” (Stephen 782). Interestingly, it seems that Babington's main desire in all this betrayal was very close to that of Iago, as he was driven to gain what he believed was rightfully his through an ulterior motive concerning Mary Stuart's decision to make Babington her husband, thus propelling him into the throne as King of England. In the play Othello, several key scenes help illuminate the similarities between Iago and Sir Anthony Babington. At the beginning of the first act, Iago demonstrates his deception and dishonesty by mocking his loyal follower Roderigo which he cleverly took advantage of through Roderigo's remark "That you, Iago, who held my purse as if the cords were thine" (I.ii.21), a sign that Iago has succeeded in manipulating Roderigo's monetary fortunes to his own advantage. This scenario becomes more complicated when Iago asks Roderigo to "make money" (I. iii. 339) so that he can purchase expensive gifts for Desdemona. In Babington's case, King Philip II of Spain, one of the foreign supporters of Elizabeth I's assassination, announced his determination that "the holy enterprise...should not fail for want of his monetary aid" (Stephen, 781 ) who made Philip II look like a complete idiot once the plan was foiled by Elizabeth I's loyalists. Iago continues his shenanigans by confessing to Roderigo that he "hates the Moor" (I.iii.344), having been outdone by the promotion by Othello who appointed Cassio as his lieutenant in Iago's place. In April 1586, Thomas Morgan, one of Mary Stuart's emissaries to Paris, France, wrote to the imprisoned Queen of Scots and mentioned that Babington, whose conduct was "characterized by much foolish vanity", was jealous of another person “whose services she had preferred to his” (Stephen 781) which places Babington in a similar position to Iago being overlooked and undervalued. In the second act of Othello, Iago's evil nature increases when Cassio, Othello's chief of staff, is seen by Iago holding Desdemona's hand which sets in motion another scheme highlighted by the line "With such a small net I will catch a fly as great as Cassius" (II.i.163). This is very reminiscent of the "web of deceit" Babington devised to end the reign of Elizabeth I with the queen in the role of Cassius, as in July 1586 Babington wrote a long letter to Mary Stuart in which he described "all means to be taken for the murder of Elizabeth and for his own liberation" (Stephen 781). In the third act of Othello, we discover that the prince of Denmark has also been deceived by Iago's betrayal. Othello sees his "intimate friend" as one of his trusted advisors, a man "of extreme honesty, (who) knows all qualities, with learned spirit in human relations" (III.iii.257). A major player in the "Babington Conspiracy" was Sir Francis Walsingham (1530-1590), whose efforts to put an end to the Babington Plot ultimately forced Mary Stuart to the block. Walsingham, like Othello, was also deceived by Babington,