Importance Of Honesty In Othello

“Honesty and loyalty are key. If two people can be honest with each other about everything, that’s probably the biggest key to success.” This statement, by actor Taylor Lautner, identifies the importance of honesty to relationships. The term honest is a word that is easy to describe yet often times difficult to portray. In Othello, the Moor was easily able to call his friend, Iago, “honest Iago.” Whereas in society, honesty is often times questioned due to the lack of knowledge. Honest is used in Shakespeare’s play, Othello, as well as in society to describe one which withholds truthfulness within their statements. In Othello, Shakespeare use of the word honest changes as the novel continues. In the beginning of the novel, honest is used to describe …show more content…
Then, the meaning of the word, honest, shifts from being honorable to faithful. This is seen in act III, scene iii, when Othello says to Iago, “If thou dost love me, Show me thy thought” (III,iii,117). Then which Iago states his love similar to Othello’s. Othello than answers, “I know thou’rt full of love and honesty, And weigh’st thy words before though givest them breath, Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more,” (III,ii,120). Othello is putting his trust in Iago over that of his own wife. The quotation demonstrates the faithfulness Othello gives to Iago rather than to his wife, Desdemona. Thirdly, the final meaning seen in Shakespeare’s Othello with use of the word honest is Iago’s forthright language to Othello. This is most obvious in act V, scene ii, when Othello responds to Emilia that, “He, woman; I say thy husband: dist understand the word? My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.” (V,iii,152-154). Up to this point in the play, Othello, the Moor has put his entire life in the hands of “honest Iago.” When Iago’s wife, Emilia doesn’t believe that her own husband is “honest Iago,” it