Deception and suspicion are very powerful in relationships For many people, lies hurt and cause distrust in others but for many of the characters in Othello, it can infuriate them and lead to them destroying their trust in each other completely. The play, Othello, by William Shakespeare is proclaimed to be themed around deception. Throughout the course of this entire play, relationships are broken due to suspicions and lies that are spread by other characters. Lies are what fuel this play. Iago is the character mainly responsible for all of the lies and drama in Venice. Iago gets his anger when Othello, an African American Muslim general, appoints Michael Cassio to be his lieutenant. Iago disagrees with this choice and feels as though he has more experience in battle compared to Cassio. In order to get the position of Lieutenant, Iago is willing to do anything and does not let any relationships get in the way of his plan. As a result of this, there is a significant amount of deception and suspicion caused by Iago to stir up trouble. This has a major impact on the story line and the development of each character. Othello is an honest man who is not taken nearly as seriously as he should be due to his race and religion. There are three ways in which deception and suspicion affect this story. These ways include; truth and honesty can leave one vulnerable, deception can destroy what has taken a long time to build up, and suspicions and accusations can negatively