Deception Illustrated By Characters In Othello

In the act of misleading a person using various tactics one is considered a deceiver. Deception can be caused through many different factors. Dissimulation, or lies and half-truths, is the verbal way to deceive. A person's actions can also be deceptive, and one can use a symbol or tangible object to deceive another. The minor characters are the victims of deceit, while the major characters are both victims and deceivers themselves. The antagonist in the play is the biggest deceiver of all. The theme of deception is portrayed in the Shakespearean play Othello through both major and minor characters either being deceived by others or using their actions, words, and other inanimate objects as their deceptive tools.

The minor characters in the play Othello illustrate the theme of deception by being a victim of someone else's deceptive behaviour. The character of Brabantio shows some of the earliest signs of deception in the play. It begins outside his house when Roderigo and Iago yell to Brabantio that Desdemona has gotten married. "How didst thou know 'twas she? O she deceives me/ Past thought!" (Shakespeare, I, i, 165-166) When Desdemona, his daughter, marries Othello, Brabantio feels as if he has been deceived. Desdemona's marriage is the symbol of her deception and her secretiveness about this action is what allows Brabantio to feel betrayed by her and causes him to go as far as kicking her out of his home. Similarly, the minor character Roderigo is being deceived by Iago throughout the play:

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;

For I mine own gain's knowledge should profane

If I would time expend with such a snipe

But for my sport and profit. (Shakespeare, I, iii, 374 - 377)

Iago states that he is making a fool of Roderigo by taking his money for fun and for his own gain, not to actually help him. His lies are what deceive Roderigo. Roderigo believes that Iago will help him win over Desdemona, but in actuality all he is doing is taking the man's money. This causes the money to become a symbol of the deception Iago uses against Roderigo. It is the reasoning for his lies. Roderigo has been misled and faces death because of it. Thus, even though the minor characters do not, themselves, deceive anyone, they still play an important role in making deception an evident theme in the play.

The major characters illustrate the theme of deception because most of them are the ones who deceive others in the play, and they are all victims of someone else's deception. The antagonist, Iago, is the main deceiver. He deceives everyone from Othello to Roderigo. His biggest target is Othello, but to reach him he must deceive others, including Desdemona and Cassio. In a soliloquy, after Iago lies to Cassio, he says:

For whiles this honest fool

Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes,

And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,

I'll pour this pestilence into his ear:

That she repeals him for her body's lust;

And by how much she strives to do him good,

She shall undo her credit with the Moor.

So will I turn her virtue into pitch,

And out of her own goodness make the net

That shall enmesh them all. (Shakespeare, II, iii, 332 - 340)

This shows how his deception works its way through many people to reach his target, Othello. Iago is infuriated due to the fact that Othello did not appoint him lieutenant. This is why Iago is willing, and manages to deceive and manipulate everyone. He is able to beguile Othello's thoughts so that he believes his deceptions very easily. He gets Othello to believe that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him with Cassio. Iago uses the handkerchief, a main symbol of deception in the play, to get Othello the ocular proof