Perceived Reality in Othello

The character Iago ominously mutters the words, "I am not what I am," at the beginning of William Shakespeare's Othello the Moor of Venice (I.i.65). What Iago means by these words so early in the play is a bit ambiguous, but as one reads on, many interpretations ensue. That very phrase becomes a subtle but powerful theme all throughout the tragic story that unfolds, and not only in regards to Iago, but also to Cassio, Desdemona, and especially Othello himself. Throughout the play, Iago systematically obliterates the realities each character has struggled so hard to construct. Desdemona has, in an emotive fit of passion and love for good story-telling, betrayed her father to elope with a Moorish general, seemingly smitten with the whimsy of adventure. Cassio has structured his priorities strictly around perception--his reputation. Finally, above all...