In Othello, maintaining a positive reputation is of great importance to many characters. Othello among them is extremely obsessed with this since he always had to work harder to be respected because of the color of his skin. When Desdemona's loyalty is questioned by Iago, Othello wants hard proof of this accusation. In the end, all Othello really does are the reality-altering perceptions implanted by Iago. These perceptions of situations, events, objects and people lead Othello to break with reality. This shows how reputation is vulnerable to the perception of others. In Act 3, Scene 3 of this play, Iago is able to convince Othello of Desdemona's unfaithful character through the way he carefully phrases his responses to Othello. Iago's reputation is that of an honest man and many people, as well as Othello, believe him to be trustworthy. Since Iago's perception is positive by a large majority, he has an influence on the perception of others' reputation since his word is taken with little or no argument. With Desdemona being yet another character whom many praise and trust, it may seem difficult to understand at first why Othello believes Iago rather than his own wife (Cavell, p. 129), since at the beginning of the play he makes the praise of his virtuous character. As Othello was never aware of Desdemona's alleged infidelity until Iago shared his suspicions with him, Othello begins to trust him. He was blind to it and let Iago show him the way to enlighten him on the question. He regards Iago as honest as many know and believes that he "sees and knows more, much more, than he reveals" (3.3.259) and that he "knows all qualities, with a learned mind, / Of human...... middle of paper......more than a crazy murderer. Throughout this piece, the issue of maintaining appearances or reputation is evident. If Iago's true intentions had been discovered earlier in the play, Desdemona would still be alive. Changing perceptions was a key element in convincing Othello of his wife's infidelity. Shakespeare's flawed tragic hero was deceived by a character who was outwardly honest, but as the play reveals, perception is not a true indicator of who a person really is. The power of perception is evident in that a reputation can be enhanced or destroyed by perceiving others in certain situations. Othello's obsession with maintaining his own reputation was his ultimate downfall since when he became blinded by keeping everything together, he forgot to think rationally and instead thought with an irrational mind filled with jealousy..