A line illustrating Iago's manacing diction in Shakespeare's Othello just floated into my head (apropos of nothing I'm aware of): "But for a satisfaction of my thought; / No further harm." The diction is an intrusion: where did harm come from? It's purely, ingeniously gratuitous on Iago's part as he begins to poison the atmosphere around Cassio (and around Othello, who's passed him over for promotion) (that's the imagined harm!)
Make of it further what you will: I pass my thought along here to initiate one point: "99%" of human communications are phatic. It's verbal musak. It's for soothing relationship, not for conveying information. There's little content. Sweetie pie! Coochie Coo! Hey, Babe! That's what we're used to: so Iago's "harm" sticks us like a frozen ice pick.
Note: the basic prosody for the scene is iambic pentameter. Iago's "But for a satisfaction of my thought," is perfect meter: ten syllables, five accents. The following line is also perfect iambic pentameter, but Iago speaks only the first two beats: No further harm: (though they read like three beats, don't they?) It's what Othello asnwers that fills out the technical meter: "Why of thy thought, Iago?" Now, reflectively, we can see: Iago gets two of five beats, Othello three.
Let me tell you: even the damn meter is dramatic, and establishes character. Well, damn it, it's Shakespeare!
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