Of all the characters in Shakespeare's Othello, Iago proves to be the most complex to the audience. Every character that knows Iago, portrays him as honest and trustworthy, but the audience has a different perspective by the end of the first act. Iago looks to be honest and kind on the outside, but attests to be a purely evil and malignant person on the inside. Throughout the course of the play he turns all his friends, who trust him the most, against each other. Iago betrays his friends by penetrating their deepest fears and concerns, using that to "make the net that shall enmesh them all" into a jealous web of hatred (II. iii. 1542). There are many examples throughout the play that clearly show Iago's villainy through lies and deception. Iago gives several different possible motives to the audience during the play in his soliloquies and conversations with Roderigo, but he never backs up these motives. For the most part Iago mentions them once, but never again. Evidence in the text proves that Iago was in fact an honest and caring person who suddenly turned villainous because he was deeply unhappy about the way his life was turning out. Things were not going his way: he did not gain lieutenancy, his rank in society was completely reliable on Othello, he was jealous of Othello's life as well as Cassio's, and most of all honesty was getting him nowhere. Iago's devilish character is the basis of the entire play, proving that appearance is far from what reality truly is.
             Once again, almost every character referred to Iago as an honest man. The audiences on the other hand, saw Iago cruelly and viciously lie and deceive one character after another, trapping them all in a jealous rage. Othello says, "A man he is of honesty and trust" before allowing Desdemona to be in the care of Iago (I. iii. 1521). Othello again says, "Honest Iago... On thy love..." when asking Iago to tell him who started the drunken brawl between Cassio and R...