Call up her father,
Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on ‘t,
As it may lose some colour.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 1, Scene 1. In his bid to ruin Othello, a vindictive Iago hatches a malevolent plan to recruit the easily manipulable Roderigo to do his dirty work for him. He incites Roderigo to wake up Desdemona’s father in order to destroy Othello’s marital bliss and enrage her family by shouting in the streets about the pair’s secret marriage. Iago’s use of poison and plague imagery and metaphor associates him with corruption and disease and foreshadows how he will poison Othello’s mind in Act 3. His racism is also suggested in his wish that the black Othello’s joy will "lose some colour."