Othello is one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies and thus a pillar of what most critics take to be the apex of Shakespeare's dramatic art. Indeed, a central thematic strand of the play is trust, honor, and reputation.
             The theme of honor and reputation intertwines with those of perception and trust. In the play's second act, Iago tells Othello that Brabantio "...prated,/And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms/ Against your honor." (I, ii.ll.6-8). To this, the proven hero of Venice replies, "My parts, my title, and my perfect soul,/Shall manifest me rightly." (I, ii., ll.31-32). The title character of Othello is supremely concerned with the reputation that he has earned as a man of military adventures and victories for the sake of his adopted homeland. Right before stabbing himself to death, Othello says to Lodovico, Gratiano and Cassio:
             I have done the state some service, and they know't---
             No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
             When you shall speak of these unlucky deeds relate,
             Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
             To the end, Othello is concerned with how he appears in the eyes of others, with his name, and with the reputation that it bears and the authority that it carries.
             The theme surfaces in other contexts. In Act II, scene iii, Othello says to the drunk and disorderly Cassio, "What's the matter/That you unlace your reputation thus/And spend your rich opinion for the name/Of a night- brawler?" (II, iii. ll.193-197). After his superior leaves and shorn of his guard command, Cassio laments to Iago, "O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!" (II, iii. ll.263-265). In this exchange, Iago avers: "Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself a loser
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