Shakespeare Othello AMU

Shakespeare Othello AMU Support de cours magistral Shakespeare Université d'Aix-Marseille. HLA3U03

12/12/2023

OTHELLO. TD 10. 5.2.1-88. “It is the cause, it is the cause.”

We are reaching the end of the play and the tension is rising and rising, reaching unbearable heights. It is the eye of the storm. To make it bearable somehow, Shakespeare placed a rather light scene just before it in which Emilia says that she has no scruples deceiving her husband. She indulges in a new feminist diatribe against men. “Let husbands know / Their wives have sense like them,” she says. (5.1.92-3)
But we know that the murder is going to take place. It is irretrievable and yet we still hope something will happen that will save Desdemona. It is so UNFAIR!!! How can the world be so unfair??? The tragedy is suffocating, and it causes the bottom of society to rock on its base.
Roderigo stabs Cassio in 5.1. 23, then Cassio wounds Roderigo (26), the Iago stabs Cassio from behind (in the leg). Othello sees Cassio wounded and goes. A messy scene follows in which Iago kills Roderigo (5.1.61) then dresses Cassio’s leg with his shirt. Then he accuses Bianca of being involved in the assassination of Bianca (5.1.85-6). He poses as a judge.
The public can probably see Desdemona sleeping in her bed on the stage… If such horror was committed in real life, the victim would probably not be allowed to speak. But this is drama and a tragedy. So the victim can speak…

1.It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul! / Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars,
It is the cause.
One may note the perfect IAMBIC rhythm of the line. The words sound like footsteps… “I guess the words must be said very slowly. “My soul” could refer to Desdemona.
But what is the cause? But what does Othello have in mind?
Desdemona’s beauty? His own love? His naivety? Women? S*x?
According to Iago in his public speech, the cause of Cassio’s predicament (he has been stabbed) is “whoring”, that is to say his liaison with Bianca. “This is the fruits of whoring” he says (5.1.116). Othello does not want to NAME the cause because the chaste stars might be hurt. So, after all, he may have “whoring” in mind too, like Iago… If this is true, the connection between Iago and Othello is blatant, the former having contaminated the latter.

3-5 Othello wants to preserve her beauty though he is afraid of it (“lest her body and beauty unprovided my mind again” 4.1.202-3). He fears he might be disarmed by her irresistible beauty. Interestingly, the monster is afraid of beauty…
4. Snow of course refers to colour WHITE that symbolizes purity and chastity.
5. Alabaster Desdemona is described as a (recumbent) statue (of a dead princess).
6. Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
Othello is posing as a servant of chastity, as a priest of some divine cause. He is mad… (cf. Hamlet) She has betrayed her father supposedly her husband.
7. The light = life, as opposed to the darkness of Hell.
10. Should I repent me He believes in the Christian principle of REPENTANCE. By killing the evil in her and repenting for the “sacrifice” he will give her eternal life and save HER life / soul.
12. Where is that Promethean heat… The allusion to Prometheus is unclear and somewhat clumsy.

Othello’s speech takes place while he is drawing near the sleeper’s bed. We can hear his THOUGHTS!!! No doubt the public are very silent now! They are holding their breaths…

10-15. Thus is the voice of reason surfacing again. He understands that her death is final. The key problem is “where”. There is NO place for that fire… The idea of the irreversible dimension of the process is repeated and rephrased. WHY? Shakespeare wants the idea to be driven home: he wants to make sure that the public understand, so he says it again and again and even uses a metaphor (“plucked the rose” 13) to make sure that everyone understands.
15-6. I’ll smell thee on the tree This is a way to justify the comedian playing Othello getting very close to Desdemona before he kills her. He wants to SMELL beauty as it were. Purity had a special smell, they thought at the time. A beautiful and pure woman could “purify the air around her” (cf. Twelfth Night) and a saint died smelling like a rose (“mourir en odeur de sainteté”). So, it is also a way to check whether she is pure or not.
19. And love thee after. He will be able to love her when she is pure again, when he has purified her through death… Perfect (eternal) love is only possible in the ‘absence’ of the beloved (cf. Petrarch)

20. He kisses her. The idea of kissing someone to death is reminiscent of Judas’s kissing Christ and by so doing sentencing him to death. It was a signal to the Romans who could identify him among the apostles.

21-2. These lines contain several oxymorons. Othello has turned the world upside down: beauty is dangerous, purity is the masque of evil, love is cruel (it strikes), kisses are deadly…
23 on. The last conversation between Othello and Desdemona.
26-8. The belief that if you die before you have confessed your sins you are sent to Hell. So, Othello wants to save her soul… (30-32) This is said for the public to understand Othello’s attitude. We understand too that he still loves her! And he is a Christian too!

I guess she has sat up. She is now sitting erect in bed. He may still be standing by the bedside or turning around the bed.

38. Your eyes roll so. This is some stage indication for the actors. Moreover, she is DESCRIBING what the spectators cannot see because of the distance. What van be seen precisely is NOT described!
39. I feel I fear. Desdemona does not understand what she is feeling. She is like the helpless observer of herself. And she comments on her feelings so that we spectators can SHARE them.
40 They are loves I bear to you. This could have destabilized Othello but it comes too late. Loving one’s husband or wife or children ‘too much’ was regarded as sin by the Church… Desdemona loves him “too much”. Think of Othello’s last declarations: “Then you must speak / Of one that loved not wisely, but too well” (5.2.341-2). It is the tyranny of a jealous god…
41. And for that thou diest.” This line introduces a new reading of the whole play. God was / The gods were infuriated by their TOO passionate love, so they created Iago who was sent to destroy their heretical love (cf. The story of Gad and Satan in The Book of Job). Evil is created by God who wants to demonstrate the necessity to love him above all the rest!

43-5. The scene when Othello makes faces that are commented on by Desdemona contains indications for the comedians.

45. I hope, I hope. This is a case of desperate hope…
55. The strong conception Othello is carrying Iago’s baby… This is an inverted, monstrous birth. Othello is killing her body in order to let out her regenerated soul.
Cf. “There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered” (Iago) 1.3.371.
“I have’t, it is engendred! Hell and night / Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light” (Iago) 1.3.402-3.
65. Murder / Sacrifice. This line refers to the naturalistic view of language according to which the word contains the thing it refers to. The right word is necessary, it is part of a whole (cf. Cratylus, plato)

Then the conversation turns to the memory of Cassio. Desdemona learns that he is dead.

77. Banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
She seems to confess her crime but of course she is just trying to save her life. She is a woman, not a goddess, she is just a human being and “The wine she drinks is made of grapes” as Iago put it (2.1.249).
86. I that am cruel and yet merciful. The oxymoron again: the world turned upside down (mundus inversus). Christian values are corrupted by the pair of villains.

The knock at the door at this very moment may cause the spectators to hope again that Desdemona might be saved at the very last minute. But this does not happen. Emilia arrives as if she were sent by God in order to rescue Desdemona. But ironically enough, she is sent TOO late… Can God be too slow? What does this mean?

OUTLINE
An unbearable scene: the CLIMAX!
Visually: the slow progress to the bed / Then the conversation (Desdemona in the bed and Othello moving around it)
The thoughts we can hear are devastating
We hear her appeals to his pity and then we can see him strangling her

Desdemona as a woman.
Desdemona is not a goddess. She looks like a scared animal in a trap. Yet she is close to divinity insofar as her smell is so sweet. She is a flower.
She tries desperately to save her life by using diverse strategies. She even seems to acknowledge her fault.
The horror of feminicide is denounced, which provides a topical echo. So, patriarchy is denounced, and the end of the play serves as an illustration for what Emilia says repeatedly about men’s unfair treatment of women. (For ex. “I do think it is their husbands’ faults / If wives do fall” [4.3.85-6] though she means something different).

The theological reach
Othello as a priest / a demon and Desdemona as a sacrifice (the “scapegoat”. cf. R Girard). This is the essence of tragedy (tragos oidé) that raises pity and terror (cf. Aristotle).
Othello says he wants to save her soul: he believes he is preserving the immortal part of her (cf The Inquisitors’ strategies / Malleus Maleficarum).
A new interpretation bodies forth: Othello and Desdemona are punished for loving each other too much. They are “adulterous”, though they are faithful to each other. God as a “jealous” god. So, Iago is an instrument in a larger scheme aimed to demonstrate the power of God. Iago could be part of God’s scheme after all and God ‘wins’ insofar as Desdemona never stops loving her husband.

12/12/2023

OTHELLO TD 9. The inner show. (81 lines)
Act 4 scene 1 from line 131 (“Iago beckons me”) down to l. 212 (“from Venice.”)

Othello has just quarrelled with his wife who does not understand what is going on: “Alas the day, I never gave him cause” she says (3.4.160). Cassio has given Bianca Desdemona’s handkerchief. Bianca wonders about the CAUSE of Cassio’s “felt absence” (3.4.182). Their interview sounds very much like a lovers’ quarrel.
4.1. begins in media res and soon Othello faints, as unable to cope with Iago’s sharp blows. Cassio comes to help but Iago sends him away. Then he orchestrates a show that “encaved” Othello is made to misunderstand. The exchange between Cassio and Iago is a performance within and Othello is the spectator of it. We, spectators, are watching the helpless spectators of the show within.
Our scene makes it clear that what one sees is what one EXPECTS to see, rather than what is. This bias was all the easier to achieve as Iago said earlier that he would “make [Cassio] tell the tale anew” (4.1.85) and that he should pay attention to Cassio’s “gesture” (88). So the villain told him beforehand HOW to look at the scene.
Cf. The Lock by Fragonard.

131. “Iago beckons me: now he begins the story.” The word STORY enhances the deceitful dimension of the scene. Like the story of Othello’s life that defeated Desdemona, Iago’s show is sure to fascinate Othello. So, we have first deceit with words (Othello) and secondly deceit with sight (I[m]ago).
These words also appeal to the public. It means: “pay attention now, be attentive”.
Cassio is mimicking past actions. He must be gesturing about mockingly.

136-7. His gesture imports it. Othello is wrong. He fails to interpret the signs correctly. The repetition of “So” makes this clear.

It is interesting to wonder who the public look at: Iago and Cassio are one focus but this show within is commented from the stage by Othello whom Cassio cannot see but whom the spectators can see. Moreover, Iago is looking at Cassio who is being looked at by Othello while le public are looking at the whole scene, shifting from one polarity to the other. The question is: where is the ACTION taking place? Is Othello the focus or is it Cassio?

140. She plucked him… Interestingly, in his fantasy, Othello imagines that it is Desdemona who assaults Cassio sexually. His wife seems to incarnate female depravity. The comedian playing Cassio’s part may be pulling at Iago’s clothes and offering to kiss him. If this is a comic scene, the laughter it raises is bitter… The Cassio/Iago performance is a comedy that is being spied on by a tragic character. The shift from mirth to terror is permanent.

141. That nose of yours. Nose-cutting was enforced to punish adulterous wives and sexual transgression. It is a very ancient practice that was particularly widespread in the Byzantine and Arabic countries where it was carried out by the husband. It could be enforced in England against those who libelled against the king and Daniel Defoe was sentenced to it. He finally escaped this punishment by the skin of his teeth.

144. Enter Bianca. Iago might suddenly fear Bianca might spill the beans. Might not the scene get out of hands? Iago is in danger now… He must improvise!

147-154. Like Roderigo before, Bianca is rebelling now. Some characters refuse to be manipulated or at least try to put an end to this dependence.

156. Iago is lucky because Othello catches sight of the handkerchief. We may deduce that Othello can SEE but cannot HEAR.

167 on. Iago is making sure Othello interpreted the scene in the ‘right’ way. Othello is bent on killing now. His first victim will be Cassio, he says.

179-80. My heart is turned to stone. Like Medusa’s victims… Bianca stands for Medusa here.

183. Nay, that’s not your way. Iago wants Othello to focus on his hatred rather than on Desdemona’s beauty. He might still pardon her.

185-6. The savageness out of a bear. Desdemona as Orpheus. She still appears to him as a deity. She can domesticate a bear, but she cannot domesticate Iago though…

194-6. The lines about TOLERATION come as a climax to a series of mentions about ROBBERY. Brabantio who was robbed of his daughter, Venice that was robbed of Cyprus by the Turks, Othello who is robbed of his wife (3.3.345). Pain comes with awareness, these examples demonstrate. Not knowing spares one the corresponding pain.

Iago is clearly driving Othello mad in this scene though the Moor is trying to minimize the gravity of the situation. Iago is TORTURING him.

201. Othello wants poison to kill Desdemona. Iago talks him into strangling her. The fight is now between Othello’s fury and Desdemona’s beauty: “Unless her body and beauty unprovided my mind again” (202-3).
Strangling Desdemona is Shakespeare’s invention as a different decision is made in Cinthio’s story.

206. The justice of it. Othello feels like a priest committing himself to a just cause. He’s definitely confusing ‘murder’ with ‘’sacrifice.

OUTLINE

The show within.

A. Iago as a stage-director: he appoints Othello as a spectator. The Moor wanted “ocular proof”. He will comment on the show after the ‘comedians’ are gone.
B. Othello as a talkative spectator: unlike the audience in the playhouse, he can comment on the action. He’s more than an eye. He is also a mouth. Can he HEAR the words spoken?
C. From a duet to a trio on the stage: Bianca turns up. Iago had not anticipated this! He might get stuck. This is risky but at the same time enjoyable for him.

The spectators’ feelings
A. The public attend a double show in that they must watch Iago and Cassio and, at the same time, pay attention to Othello. Staging this scene must be complex.
B. The public may expect Bianca’ arrival to cause a sudden reversal in the situation. Hope that Iago will be unmasked.
C. Now that Othello has ‘seen’ the proof, they feel that the plot is bound to lead to Desdemona’s violent death. Terror is beginning to seize the spectators whose imagination anticipates the dreadful events to come. Yet the show within can be funny… Mixed feelings are raised!

Iago as a torturer
A. This is a torture scene insofar as Iago is forcing Othello to ‘see’ his worst nightmare: Cassio mocking his mistress (Desdemona): double pain: 1. Desdemona is mocked by a cruel lover 2/ He has a confirmation that she is unfaithful. Of course, the public know that appearances are deceitful.
B. After the show Iago continues to harass Othello who tries to talk himself into being tolerant. When the Moor mentions her beauty Iago tells him he “must forget that” (177)
C. By suggesting he should “strangle” her, rather than poison her, he insists Othello should commit a real murder. Othello will SEE her die. This is part of Iago’s plan: to impose the unforgettable SIGHT of his lover’s death.

Though this is a SHOW WITHIN it is a show that causes an irretrievable consequence in the real world: Desdemona will die for good! So, this scene is both a show and much more than a performance.

12/12/2023

OTHELLO TD8.
Act 3 scene 4 from l. 32 (“I will not leave him now…”) down to l. 107. (“They belch us.”): a jealous man.
Les belles âmes arrivent difficilement
à croire au mal, à l’ingratitude,
il leur faut de rudes leçons avant de reconnaître
l’étendue de la corruption humaine.
H de Balzac, Les Illusions perdues

In the course of 3.3, we could see that Iago is playing a very dangerous game and that he is walking a tight rope: “If thou dost slander her and torture me / Never pray more, abandon all remorse …. For nothing canst thou to damnation add / Greater than that!” (372-376) After all he might fail… Othello is completely lost: “I think my wife be honest, and think she is not / I think that thou art just, and think thou art not” he says to Iago (3.3.387-8). The handkerchief is Iago’s first “ocular proof”. At the end of 3.3., the two men are seen kneeling close to each other and taking a pledge. They seem to be involved in some secret ceremony and to give themselves to each other: “I am your own for ever” (482) Iago says. In 3.3.217, Othello had already said to Iago: “I am bound to the for ever”. It sounds like a mystical MARRIAGE… After all, Iago might have wished for some sort of union with Othello. In 3.3.481, Iago got Cassio’s job as Othello’s lieutenant! Yet Iago did not rejoice: no aside, no burst of joy… Did it really matter to him?
This terrible scene occurs just after a funny exchange between Desdemona and the clown that provided COMIC RELIEF. The public has been allowed a whiff of fresh air before they enter the claustrophobic atmosphere of 3.4.
Desdemona has just declared that Othello is NOT a jealous man and that “the sun where he was born / Drew all such humours from him” (3.4.30-1). This is the moment when Shakespeare decided to make hyper-jealous Othello meet her… The Moor finds Desdemona and Emilia together. Emilia will be a silent witness of the encounter. Each time Othello and Desdemona meet, the spectators may hope that they will reconcile with each other and understand that they are being deceived by Iago. But this hope is fragile. We, spectators, hold our breaths…
It's the first time Othello and Desdemona have faced each other (only Emilia is there, and she is silent throughout) and the public are probably holding their breaths.

32. Her insisting on Cassio is fateful. The more faithful in friendship, the more virtuous, the more guilty she appears… The world is turned upside down. VIRTUE is interpreted as VILLAINY!
The public feel that she is being very awkward. Much pressure weighs on their shoulders.

34. “O hardness to dissemble” this aside indicates that Shakespeare wants us to share the Moor’s feelings, and therefore to feel close to him. We see the scene through Othello’s eyes. No aside for Desdemona…

36. Desdemona’s supposedly moist hand may represent her lasciviousness. This is provocation… It evinces Othello’s failure to interpret what he sees / feels: her anxiety is regarded as a sign of her profligacy.

43. ‘Tis a good hand. This line indicates that appearances are deceitful. It refers back to Iago’s line in 3.3.129: “Men should be what they seem”. Desdemona’s villainy is all the more horrible as she SEEMS to be honest and pure.

A competition begins that causes the HAND and the HEART to rival. Desdemona says she gave her heart with her hand. Othello insists that in the old world the hearts ruled over the hands. In the new world (new heraldry) he says that the hands are empty and just give themselves: the heart is gone…

The following exchanges are an example of STICHOMYTHIA (Quick-fire exchanges). More stichomythia from line 80 to line 88.

Othello accounts for (invents?) the story around the handkerchief. Like himself, the handkerchief has a story: it was born / made one day, it bears a charm, it enjoys its own life. The object becomes a STORY (like Othello’s life and his death). Othello is once again demonstrating his talent as a storyteller. The handkerchief becomes almost a character… “Make it a darling” Othello says (3.4.68)
This story turns Othello’s distrust of Desdemona into a mere consequence of Desdemona’s loss of the handkerchief. It is HER fault, he says… Should the object turn up again, he would love her again! The whole thing is a blatant lie.

70 Is’t possible? 77. I’faith, is’t true? The spectators are invited to accept a conception of man they can hardly imagine. They must, like the characters in the play, open their minds to something else that they can hardly conceive. THEY, WHO MUST SUSPEND THEIR DISBELIEF AS SPECTATORS IN A PLAYHOUSE, MUST ALSO SUSPEND IT AS WITNESSES OF THE EXISTENCE OF UNBELIEVABLE ‘PEOPLE’ and events:
“Fie, there’s no such man, it is impossible” Iago says (4.2.136).
“I do not think there is any such woman” Desdemona says to Emilia in 4.3.82.
It is double suspension of disbelief… (they must accept the show as ‘truth’ and the incredible characters mentioned as true). The characters no longer understand the world in which they operate. It is too different from them for them to understand it. They are too innocent to imagine a corrupt world. Othello will understand the lesson too late…
Their ingrained beliefs fall apart. They open their minds to LIES and drop down their guards. Othello will finally lose faith in his wife and replace the truth by a lie. Desdemona begins to believe in superstitions (the hallowed handkerchief).
This is the major loss undergone by the main characters: they lose their FAITH in humanity.

79. Then would to God that I had never seen’t!
This line echoes her early statement when she heard Othello’s story: “She wished she had not heard it” (1.3.163). We are the victims of what we SEE and what we HEAR! Stories and shows come into us and change us… Like plays!
When she says this line, Desdemona seems to reveal her guilt!
Desdemona wishes she could REWRITE the story…

The focus now is the handkerchief that becomes some sort of symbol of Desdemona’s treachery. The speeches alternate between Cassio and the handkerchief. It is a verbal fight, verbal fencing. We can guess that Othello SHOUTS three times the words “The handkerchief!” (94 / 95 / 98)

The last phase in the scene acts as an epilogue to the previous exchanges. It has a CHORIC function.

The mention of “wonder” indicates that Desdemona begins to believe in the supernatural powers of the handkerchief. When you open your mind to superstitions, you fail to think, the play seems to say.

Emilia’s last lines are a FEMINIST interpretation of the scene. It displays man’s disregard for women, she says. Shakespeare supports women in his stride through the character of Emilia.

OUTLINE

I. The hand and the handkerchief.
A. The hand is a thing you can look at. It “speaks” somehow (though silently), like the missing handkerchief. Othello invents the hand’s story.

B. The ABSENT handkerchief is now the focus of the whole scene.
Othello invents (?) a story about it too. It is magical and it can act upon the world. It is much more than an object and Desdemona should make it her “darling”.

C. Another stratum of reality is provided by the handkerchief: The whole story of Othello could be caused by the magic of the lost handkerchief. Accordingly, as he wants to have it back, isn’t Othello causing the death of love…?

II. Verbal fencing.
A. The confrontation becomes very violent: Othello’s love is dead (and we know it). He has given his soul / his love to Iago.

B. Othello and Desdemona cannot communicate. She keeps supporting Cassio and this virtuous attitude dooms her.

C. STICHOMYTHIA is in full swing and gives the exchanges a vivid and stressful tempo. This sort of tit for tat dialogue is unusual between the lovers.

III. Is any hope possible?
A. The spectators know that Othello has ‘given his soul’ to Iago. The pact is sealed. No hope is allowed.

B. Yet they may still hope that the truth will out somehow, and Iago’s treachery will be revealed in time (they are still using sweet words to refer to each other especially at the beginning).

C. As the scene unfolds, we realize that they cannot survive this ordeal. The tension is unbearable. Desdemona appears very much as a helpless victim. The tragic tone prevails (terror and pity are raised)

12/12/2023

TD7. OTHELLO. The handkerchief scene. Part 1. (85 lines)
Act 3 scene 3 from line 281 (“Look where she comes”) down to l. 366. (“Is’t come to this?”)

______________________________________________________________

QUESTIONS:
How come the events telescope each other?
How comes Iago is so knowledgeable about jealousy?
Why does Othello repeat “farewell” 5 times in the end?
______________________________________________________________

This scene is part of a very long scene that counts 482 lines and that ends up with the total surrender of Othello to Iago’s sick will. It is the moment when Othello’s mind is overwhelmed!
Iago has just planted the seed of jealousy in the garden of Othello’s mind. Now the monstrous plant can grow and the green-eyed monster can thrive. Some damage has already been caused and the Moor regards Desdemona’s love for him as the sign of “a will most rank, / Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural.” (3.3.236-7) Moreover he has just declared, Mephistopheles-like, that he is “bound” to Iago “for ever” (3.3.217). The pact is being being sealed… It will be echoed by Iago’s words in 3.3.482: “I am your own for ever.” The whole thing sounds very much like a love declaration and a wedding oath… Othello has just delivered a brief soliloquy in which he called himself an old black man (267 and 270), cursed women and the bond of marriage. The “forked plague” (280) of cuckoldry is inevitable, he says.
This is the moment when Desdemona and Emilia appear. The sight of her beauty perturbs him, causing him to feel completely lost. She is going to drop her handkerchief that Emilia will be eager to pick up and give her husband. This object will be THE proof Othello wishes to get… But this “proof” is a lie! Iago will pocket the handkerchief, deliver a brief soliloquy and finally continue to poison the Moor’s mind until he calls his chaste wife a “fair devil.” (3.3.481)
As his vision of Desdemona is in full turmoil and begins to be corrupted by the poison poured in his ears by Iago, Othello sees Desdemona coming. The poison poured in his ears has contaminated his eyes. Our passage begins there! The events are going to telescope each other: loss of the handkerchief / Picked up by Emilia / Given to Iago… This creates a sense of urgency. An irretrievable process has begun that nothing will stop!

283. I’ll not believe’t. The spectators may feel that Othello is going to put himself together and to believe what he sees: beauty as being pure and good… But this is an illusion! The sight of purity is defeated by the (forged) sight of deceit.
« En cas de conflit entre l’illusoire et le réel, Clément Rosset says, c’est toujours l’illusoire qui gagne ». (L’invisible, C Rosset, p. 38)

288. pain upon my forehead. Othello is being rude. He is referring to the cuckold’s horns…
Yet this is a nice and sweet domestic scene when Desdemona is trying to relieve her husband from the pain. She is using her precious handkerchief.

300. It is moving to see that the handkerchief is Desdemona’s confident. It is some sort of friend, actually; much more than a mere object.

An ASIDE by Emilia which provides an insight into her psychology (Shakespeare wants us to understand her!) She appears as a submissive wife: “I nothing, but to please his fantasy.” We may imagine that this line was quite natural in a “good” wife’s mouth and just met the spectators’ approval.
305. I have a thing for you. Women were regarded as “nothing”: they had ‘absent’ genitalia as their va**na is hollow, that is to say an absence, nothing. “I have a thing for you” may mean “I have something for you that is nothing”… Iago calls it a “common thing” and prostitutes were called “common” (cf. Hamlet).
Like most spectators, Iago shared mainstream misogyny.

320-2. Emilia is eager to please her husband and yet she is reluctant to give him the handkerchief. Our response to this character is mingled: we may be moved by a character who wishes to get love from her husband and yet we feel that she is doing something that will prove fatal to Desdemona. As a consequence, we remain at some emotional distance from her. The last scene of the play will be redemptive for her!

323-336. Iago’s soliloquy:
Iago presents the next steps in his plot. He had not anticipated the use of the handkerchief: we can see him improvising!
Iago speaks like a specialist of jealousy. The character as a construction may seem a bit too elaborate: he may be speaking a bit out of character… We may feel the presence of Shakespeare in the background explaining things to the spectators. The tone is didactic! The character is instrumental in conveying explanations.
On a psychological level, this could indicate that HE is a jealous man… This is what his many allusions to his wife’s infidelity may indicate. (Cassio + Othello are his lovers, he says)
328. The Moor already changes with my poison. This line too is a technical device: it helps the spectators interpret what is happening on the stage and in Othello’s mind (some sort of inner guidance). It may also be viewed as a stage indication for the actor playing Othello’s part.
On seeing Othello he does as if he were talking to him: we learn that he wants to KILL the Moor’s sleep…

338. Thou hast set me on the rack. Indeed, everything was initiated by Iago. He is the TORTURER or the DEMON in hell…

The end of our scene deals with ideas (knowing or not that one is deceived) that were debated first by the Duke and Brabantio in 1.3 at the end of the tribunal scene. The Duke said very solemnly (207-210):

What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief,
He robs himself that spends a bootless grief.

And Brabantio answered very shrewdly (211-4):

So let the Turks of Cyprus us beguile,
We lose it not so long as we can smile;
He bears the sentence well that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears.

The climax comes when Othello says (3.3.345-6)

He that is robbed, not wanting what is stolen,
Let him not know’t, and he’s not robbed at all.

In other words, if you do not know that you are robbed you are not robbed at all. This idea is central to Othello that may very much appear as a tragedy of DEPRIVATION or LOSS:
Othello loses Desdemona
Roderigo loses his money
Cassio loses his reputation
Desdemona loses her handkerchief / her lover / her reputation
Brabantio loses his daughter
Venice might lose Cyprus
Wh**es lose their virtue / virginity

These lines will be echoed by those spoken by Leontes, the jealous husband in The Winter’s Tale (1611): he says he has seen the spider… Now Othello says farewell to the man he used to be. The knowledge is like dark wine poured into water. The original purity is never to be found again. The process is irretrievable. These lines add to the tragic dimension of the scene that becomes quite SOLEMN and lyrical.
This is made palpable by the use of analepsis. “Farewell” is repeated 5 times.

At the end of the scene, Othello demands visual proof. We feel that the handkerchief will be used as evidence. So Iago will have to devise a new trick in order to deceive his mater and to wriggle out of this tight spot! Seeing that Iago is getting into trouble is an enjoyable sight for the spectators.

OUTLINE

The importance of the handkerchief.

More than a mere object: a presence / precious / a present from the Moor.
Iago has long wished to use it in order to deceive his master.
We feel that it will be turned into VISUAL evidence by Iago.

The importance of eyesight.

Desdemona’s beauty could plead against Iago: she is so beautiful and beauty cannot lie.
Visual evidence is demanded by Othello (the handkerchief will provide it) Iago will have to find a way…
Seeing brings knowledge of the deed (unfaithfulness) and knowledge brings pain. Blindness is praised…

A pivotal scene.
The events telescope each other it all goes so fast.
At the beginning of the scene Othello seems to have doubts but at the end he is undone and turns violent toward his torturer.
The didactic dimension of the scene evinces its importance: Shakespeare makes (awkwardly?) Iago a specialist of jealousy.

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