Othello II: Act 2 Scene 1

An interesting feature of Iago's character is his strange honesty. He rarely makes a statement that can be illustrated to be incorrect except his expression of his own feelings. For instance, after telling Roderigo that Cassio and Desdemona love each other, he acknowledges that his statement could quite possible be true. He says that "that Cassio loves her, I do well believe 't. That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit," indicating that he finds is quite possible that nothing he said was false (II.i.308-309). Thus, everything he said on that topic to Roderigo could, theoretically, be logical, and therefore his opinions are, should he need to explain them if his plans unravel, plausible even if he weren't conspiring against Othello. While he acknowledges Othello's quality as a husband (in contrast to what he said to Roderigo), he still defiles Othello's name with respect to virtue, thereby rendering his opinions of Othello's future also plausibly true from his perspective should Roderigo analyze the truthfulness of Iago's claims to him. Thus, the only matter in this passage about which Iago has lied such that he contradicts what another person may perceive him to be is when he lies about his feelings about Othello to everyone but Roderigo. In this way, he simultaneously maintains multiple effective façades about his feelings, all of which are plausible interpretations of his internal opinions and thoughts based on all the information he grants to his combined audiences.