In act one of Othello, Shakespeare’s character, Iago, shows how deceitful and
disloyal people can be. Iago’s disloyalty towards Othello and Cassio is
portrayed through the lies he tells to Barbantio, Othello, and Cassio. Othello
wants revenge on Othello because he thinks that Othello slept with his wife,
Emilia, and because he gave Cassio the promotion Iago thought he deserved.
Therefor he also wants to get back at Cassio. In the first scene Iago and
Roderigo wake up Barbantio by yelling at him from outside his house. When he
comes outside they tell him that Othello has stolen his daughter, Desdemona,
although Desdemona willingly married Othello. His disloyalty is evident by his
disrespectful comments about Othello, especially when he says “an old black
ram is tupping your white ewe” (Othello p.13). Iago continues to deceive
Othello in the second scene. The first time the two are together Iago warns
Othello that Barbantio has sent a search party after him. He is pretending to be
Othello’s friend even though he is the one that convinced Barbantio to seek
out Othello. When they see somebody approaching them, Iago warns Othello
“those are the raised father and his friends. You were best go in” (p.23).
This is when Iago’s deceit becomes painfully obvious. When Othello is not
around he has nothing good to say about him. “I hate the Moor” (p.55).
However, when he is face to face with Othello he acts like he cares about him.
He acts like his friend. Iago also does the same thing to Cassio. He plans his
attack of lies on Cassio when he says about Cassio “he holds me well. The
better shall my purpose work on him” (p.55). Which means that because Cassio
likes him, it will not be hard for Iago to trick him. These three examples are a
mere taste of what Iago does throughout the story. However, they are very good
examples. They show how deceitful and disloyal Iago is, and how deceitful and
disloyal people can be.