After dinner, Othello proposes to walk with Lodovico, and sends Desdemona to bed, telling her that he will be with her shortly and that she should dismiss Emilia. Desdemona seems aware of her imminent fate as she prepares for bed. She says that if she dies before Emilia, Emilia should use one of the wedding sheets for her shroud. Emilia says that she would not deceive her husband for jewels or rich clothes, but that the whole world is a huge prize and would outweigh the offense.
This leads Emilia to speak about the fact that women have appetites for sex and infidelity just as men do, and that men who deceive their wives have only themselves to blame if their wives cheat on them. Desdemona replies that she prefers to answer bad deeds with good deeds rather than with more bad deeds. She readies herself for bed. In the final scene, Othello does abruptly decide that he has been deceived all along by Iago, but not because he is confronted by compelling proof.
When Othello has finished questioning Emilia, he interrogates Desdemona. Even though he has no intention of believing her, he calls on her to swear that she is honest, as if all he wants is to see her damn herself with more lies. Moreover, he exaggerates her infidelities out of all proportion to reality or human possibility, comparing her copulation to the breeding of summer flies or foul toads.
Perhaps any infidelity is as painful to him as a thousand infidelities, and his exaggerations only communicate the importance to him of her chastity.
Having had to preside over a state dinner right after being abused by her husband in Act IV, scene ii, Desdemona must be completely exhausted by the beginning of Act IV, scene iii. Alone with Desdemona, Emilia reflects that it would have been better if Desdemona had never seen Othello, but Desdemona rejects this idea, saying that Othello seems noble and graceful to her, even in his rebukes.
This remark suggests that Lodovico is attractive, all that a man should be, and it is somewhat puzzling, considering all that Desdemona has to think about at this moment. She reprimands him for not visiting her more frequently, and he apologizes, saying that he is under stress.
He asks her to copy the embroidery of a handkerchief he recently found in his room onto another handkerchief. Bianca accuses him of making her copy the embroidery of a love gift from some other woman, but Cassio tells her she is being silly. They make a plan to meet later that evening. In this scene, the time scheme of the play begins to unravel.
But the play has only represented three days thus far: the first day in Venice, the day of the arrival and revels in Cyprus, and the day that begins at the beginning of Act III and continues until the end of the play. This inconsistency is somewhat disorienting—like Othello, the audience feels stuck in a chaotic world. The events onstage are not only beyond our control, they defy logical understanding. For instance, it is difficult to understand how Desdemona could have had time to commit adultery.
Thus, the handkerchief suggests a number of different interpretations. Othello has convinced himself that Desdemona has lost her virtue because she has lost a symbol of that virtue. She seems deeply skeptical of and knowledgeable about men in general.
Iago mentions at the beginning of the play that he suspects his wife of unfaithfulness, and on one level Iago and Emilia seem to work out their conflict vicariously through Othello and Desdemona.
Act III, scene iv assumes the bizarre shape of a perverted trial. From the moment he enters, Othello plays the role of the prosecutor, demanding that Desdemona produce the handkerchief and accusing her of being a whore.
He points to her moist hand as evidence of her inherently lascivious nature. She sees no villainy in Cassio's face, she says; Cassio "errs in ignorance and not in cunning" As another example of dramatic irony, note how clearly the audience can see the contrast between Cassio and Iago, a man who certainly errs — at least morally — in his own "cunning.
Othello seems to be concerned with other matters. Obviously, he will do what his wife asks, but his thoughts are on other things. He does not wish to call Cassio back at the moment, but Desdemona is insistent. Perhaps she is merely young and eager to have her requests granted, or perhaps she is too eager to prove to herself that her new husband is obedient; whatever the reason, she harries Othello about when he will reinstate Cassio as his lieutenant: ".
When shall he come? Desdemona realizes that Othello's answer is curt, and she emphasizes that this is an important matter and not a trifle that she is asking. To this, Othello stresses again that he will deny her nothing, but, in return, he asks for a bit of time so that he can be alone; he will join her shortly.
As Desdemona leaves, Othello chides himself for being irritated by his wife. Lovingly he sighs, "Excellent wretch! There is an element of prophecy here not only in Desdemona's and Othello's farewells to one another, but also in their lines and in the remainder of the Moor's first speech after Desdemona leaves.
In a metaphorical sense, perdition will soon catch Othello's soul, and chaos will soon replace order in his life. When Iago is alone with Othello, he resumes his attack on his general's soul. Out of seemingly idle curiosity, he asks if Desdemona was correct when she referred to the days when Othello was courting her; did Cassio indeed "know of your love?
Here he prods Othello's memory to recall that Desdemona and Cassio have known each other for some time. Then again playing the reluctant confidant, he begs, as it were, not to be pressed about certain of his dark thoughts. One can see how skillfully Iago makes use of his public reputation for honesty. It is necessary to remember throughout the play and especially in this scene that Iago has a reputation for complete honesty.
It is for this reason that Othello is alarmed by Iago's hesitations and "pursed brow"; Othello knows that Iago is not a "false disloyal knave" and that he is "full of love and honesty" If Iago fears something, it must be a concern "working from the heart" What Iago is doing, of course, is making Othello believe that Iago's honor is at stake if he confesses his fears.
Thus he lies to Othello again, saying that he is unwilling to speak further because he may be "vicious in [his] guess" One should never doubt that Iago will speak the "worst of thoughts" , although at first he does not answer directly. First, he speaks only the word "jealousy" aloud, fixing it in Othello's imagination; then, sanctimoniously, he warns his general against this evil, this "green ey'd monster" , and refers to the "wisdom" of Othello, implying that the general is not one to be trapped by his emotions.
Filled with what appears to be moral fervor, Iago then proceeds to a glorification of reputation. One might profitably recall Iago's antithetical views on the same subject when he was talking with Cassio earlier.
In Act II, Scene 3, Iago told Cassio that "reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving" Here, Iago seemingly holds reputation in the highest esteem; it is the "jewel of [a man's] soul" "who steals my purse steals trash. Othello hears, and his "O misery! He swears that he will "see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove" And Iago approves of such a stance; he, of course, is in a position to let human nature run its course and "prove" what it wishes — irrationally.
He knows that man, being human, is flawed and subject to fears and irrational suspicions. He then asks the Moor to use his "free and noble nature" to determine for himself the truth of the behavior between Desdemona and Cassio. In other words, the faithless wife is a well-known member of Venetian society. Here the reader should recall Othello's words to the Duke of Venice; he confessed that he knew very little of the world except for that pertaining to warfare.
Othello is a master of games on the battlefield, but he is innocent of social games. Iago also urges Othello to recall that Desdemona deceived her own father by marrying Othello. To Brabantio, Desdemona pretended to be afraid of Othello's dark looks; she pretended to shake and tremble at Othello's exotic demeanor, yet "she lov'd them [Othello's features] most" The implication is clear; Iago does not have to state it: If Desdemona deceived her own flesh and blood, she might just as naturally deceive her husband.
The logic of these lines is forceful, and Iago is astute enough to pause now and then, begging his superior's forgiveness, and, at the same time, attributing his own frankness to his devotion and regard for Othello. When we hear the Moor say, "I am bound to thee for ever" , we feel that indeed he has been irrevocably trapped.
Before the two men part, Iago goes to further pains to make Othello believe in his honesty and also to insure that Othello's jealousy has been sufficiently inflamed.
He must also measure how well he has succeeded thus far. Iago stresses that Cassio is his "worthy friend"; in other words, one does not lie about one's friends and, therefore, the Moor must not exaggerate in his imagination what he hears. Yet Iago is certain that Othello has already exaggerated to himself everything he has just heard. For that reason, Iago's remark to Othello that all this has "a little dash'd your spirits" is a gross understatement.
Othello is no longer as sure as he was of Desdemona's fidelity, for he ponders on the possibility of ". This thought is similar to his father-in-law's observation in Act I, Scene 3, when Brabantio spoke of "nature erring" — when Desdemona "unnaturally" chose Othello, a man not of her own race or culture. Othello turns and asks that Iago's wife, Emilia, watch Desdemona closely.
Now we hear Othello in a soliloquy , and the range of the imagery he uses underscores the appalling change in his character. There is only one thing now of which Othello is certain — the "exceeding honesty" of Iago. The Moor is obsessed with the need to prove or disprove Desdemona's fidelity. And here he begins to look for reasons for her unfaithfulness. Convulsed with introspection, he curses his black skin and his lack of social graces and also the fact that he is "into the vale of years" he is much older than Desdemona — all these things, he fears, could turn a woman from her husband's bed.
Othello's mental agony approaches the emotional climax of the play; here is the first turning point of the drama. Othello's mind and soul are torn with irrational images of Desdemona's infidelity and of his own unworthiness. Othello sees himself as an old man, an old cuckold, one who has treasured Desdemona blindly, beyond reason. Hours ago, he was filled with the spirit of a young bridegroom; now he is reduced to ignominy.
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