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Examples Of Honesty In Othello

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In William Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, Shakespeare uses the adjective “honest” several times throughout the tragedy to create a sense of irony using the antagonist, Iago, who is constantly dishonest and deceitful to everyone despite claiming he is of honest reputation. Iago is perceived as a very honest man whom Othello, the protagonist, trusts. However, it can be repeatedly seen by the audience that Iago is not honest or trustworthy at all. He lies to create issues for Othello out of jealousy and revenge, yet continues to conceal his true nature through boasting that he is honest and playing victim.
An example of how Shakespeare uses the word “honest” with irony is when Othello referred to Iago as “Honest Iago”(1.3.290) or when Othello claims “Iago is most honest”(2.3.17). Ironically, as stated before, Iago is not honest at all despite having convinced Othello that he is. This is foreshadowing the fact that Iago is plotting to ruin Othello’s life. Iago reveals his plot to demolish Othello’s life through eventually convincing Othello that …show more content…

An example of this would be when he basically mocks the fact that Othello trusts him by saying “Oh, you are well tuned now, / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music, / As honest as I am”(2.1.186-188). This displays irony because he is completely aware of his deceitful nature, yet continues to proclaim that he is an honest man. Iago also boasts about his dishonesty and plan to ruin Othello’s life by sarcastically questioning “And what’s he then that says I play the villain / When this advice is free I give and honest.”(2.3.245-246) His actions exhibit irony because he claims he gave Cassio “good” advice, but it eventually ends up causing Othello to hate him. Again, this displays how Iago conspires to ruin Othello by deceiving Cassio while also still claiming his

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