Iago the Meritocrat: Conflicting Interpretations of Individualism in the Early Modern Period.

Shakespeare's tragic foil from Othello has another dimension to him. His character rejects Medieval and Renaissance values in favor of early liberal themes of rational individualism and meritocracy. Shakespeare's antipathy toward this character reflects a conservative reaction to the emergence of early liberal values that would become, increasingly, dominant during the next century, eventually evolving into the liberal ideology of today. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]