Othello's Points>Iago's Points

I kind of think social hierarchy in Shakespeare’s time is a little bit like some tests we just took in psychology.  For the tests, you got points for each question if the question applied to you (for example, you would get two points if you got 8-9 hours a sleep a night, but -3 points if you smoked).  In the end you totaled your points and ranked your total on a scale.  The higher you were on the scale, the better off you were (mentally, physically, psychologically…I’m not really sure what the test was getting at).  The point is Othello is kind of the same way.  In Loomba’s article she mentions, “Specifying who is part of the nation also entails identifying who may not be part of it, or who may be its ‘lesser’ member” (150).  In all actuality, Othello should be the lesser member of his society because of his race (and probably religion although that isn’t really mentioned in the play).  So (and here is where the psych test comes in) he would get negative points because of his race.  But the fascinating thing is that he has a high-ranking military position.  That gives him positive points.  To add to that he’s married to a white woman (more positive points) who has government ties (even more positive points).  So really, Othello almost ranks higher than some white men in his society.  But is he still considered the “lesser member?”  Apparently so.  Despite all of his “positive points” that would normally put him higher up on the social hierarchy, Othello is still portrayed as the typical “other outsider.”  Not all the play’s characters portray him that way, but Iago certainly does.  Perhaps that is Iago’s motive.  Othello is an “other” and yet he still ranks higher than Iago does.  In Iago’s mind, Othello’s should be the “lesser member,” but somehow he’s becoming more and more part of the nation—a nation that usually identifies itself as the opposite of the “others.”