If we take irony to be the discrepancy between appearance and
reality, then certainly Iago is a character in whom irony abounds greatly in Act One. He takes
great pains to appear to loyal confidante of Othello whilst actually working to act against him,
informing Desdemona's father of Desdemona and Othello's elopement together. Note how he explains
the way he must leave before Brabantio descends to Roderigo:
Farewell, for I must leave
you.
It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my
place,
To be produced, as, if I stay, I
shall,
Against the
Moor.
His whole identity is based on
his hatred of "the Moor" and he takes great pains to appear to be loyal whilst plotting how to
ruin his life. Note how in Act I scene 3, he says in a
soliloquy:
He holds me
well,The better shall my purpose work on
him.
Friendship and loyalty are just
outward guises to allow him to advance his envious resentment against
Othello.
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