Cobb wasn't the first to complete Inception....

Nolan has truly made a masterpiece. A film I can watch three times and still be puzzled by all the little details I miss each time. Ok, I do read a little too much into everything, making it easy to think I've discovered something that doesn't exist. Often, I'll notice an emphasis on a specific word spoken, or even a glance between two people and deduce simply from those words that they are actually all under the process of incepted by Cobb's grandfather. Yet still, I alway's walk away from the film, feeling as if I've gained one more piece to the puzzle, only to discover the next gap. It's infuriating for some, but I find it exhilarating.


Yet I couldn't help but notice that the idea of Inception, the idea that you could make someone think a thought that does not belong to them, is not a truly new idea. Let Shakespeare's play come to mind, and substitute the great villain Iago into the part of Cobb, except with a different motive; to drive his target, Othello (the fill-in character for Robert Fischer) to the point of destroying his own life with a simple idea. Iago starts his plan with building a web of little lies and disbelief, such as getting Casio drunk, promising Rodrigo Desdamona, and convincing Casio to ask Desdamona for help. These could easily be compared to the 'Levels' of the dream that had to be built. 


Iago also uses the "Mr. Charles" ploy on Othello, convincing him that he is one to be trusted (hence the often chanted refrain of 'Honest Iago!'), all the while successfully turning himself against the ones who care most for him, and are there to protect him.


Finally, he plants the seed. He gives a simple implication that he thinks Othello's wife Desdamona is cheating on him. Here we see the major difference; Cobb will settle for now less than 'genuine inspiration', where Robert must think it was his own idea, while Iago just needs a subtle nudge, and all hell breaks loose on its own.


Either way, we see this power of the idea Cobb speaks of. We can see that an idea can really tear apart companies. Or lives.