Theme Of Lying In Othello

From a young age, we are taught that lying is something unacceptable. Although we have this value instilled in us, most of us begin lying from a young age. Whether it be lying about who ate the last cookie or who broke the vase, lying is inevitable. Once we are a bit older, we become more inclined to lie when we face certain situations. One might lie to protect themselves or another’s feelings. All of this points to the inescapable truth; lying is a part of human nature. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago spins a web of lies in order to carry out revenge against Othello. He does this by planting a series of lies amongst characters in the play that lead Othello to kill his wife, Desdemona, and ultimately, himself. A personal agenda based

Although Othello did promote Cassio over Iago, he still holds an immense amount of trust in Iago. Iago is able to create a perfect facade throughout the play so that Othello trusts him with no hesitation. He does not think twice about anything Iago tells him. When Othello finds that his orders to Cassio have been taken up by Iago he replies with “Iago is most honest.” (page 88) This shows that Othello holds the same trust in Iago as he does in Cassio. By securing this trust within Othello, Iago is able to carefully plant lies that Othello wholeheartedly believes. It is this very aspect that makes Iago so

The notion of color also had a certain impact on Iago's plan. This can be seen through the terms Iago uses when referring to Othello while he is not around with terms such as “barbary horse,” “old black ram,” “barbarian” and most commonly, “The Moor.” This internalized hate might have made it easier or even more satisfying for Iago to carry out his devious plan as it brought him much more satisfaction. Interestingly enough, he does not use any of these terms when directly speaking to Othello. He instead uses terms such as “my noble lord” or simply “my lord” and acts more like a loyal doormat than an evil