Act 3

• Act 3:

  • Scene 3 - Iago to Othello on Desdemona and Cassio + Desdemona and Othello + Iago and Othello on Cassio and handkerchief + Emilia with the handkerchief and Iago
  • Scene 4 - Emilia on men + Bianca and Cassio
• Scene 3 - Iago to Othello on Desdemona and Cassio

  “Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it / that he would steal away so guilty-like / seeing you coming.” - Iago

  • Once again he manages to plant a seed of doubt into a person’s mind without it seeming so.
  • Adjectives - subtly suggests that something happened that shouldn’t between Des and Cass.

  Critic:

  • Johnson
  • “Subtle in his designs“
• Scene 3 - Iago to Othello on Desdemona and Cassio

  “My lord, you know, I love you.” - Iago

  • Dramatic irony - he wants to ruin O‘s reputation and manipulates him to get him to trust him

  Critic:

  • Honigmann
  • “Seductive character“
• Scene 3 - Iago to Othello on Desdemona and Cassio

  “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / the meat it feeds on.” - Iago

  • Metaphor - it takes over you and causes you to see what is not there
  • Ironic ‘doth mock…feeds on’ - coming from Iago. If O gives into a jealousy, it will eventually destroy him.
  • Metaphorical dehumanisation ‘meat it feeds on’

  Critic:

  • Seghal
  • ”Jealousy is exhausting, it’s a hungry emotion and it must be satisfied‘
• Scene 3 - Iago to Othello on Desdemona and Cassio

  “I now our country disposition well. / In Venice they do let God see the pranks / they dare not show their husbands.” - Iago

  • First person pronoun - make O seems like an outsider, due to his position as a soldier and his race. Links to the elitist mindset of white Jacobean society.
  • O knows very little about high-ranking Venetian society and so has no choice but to rely on Iago’s knowledge.

  Critic:

  • Honigmann
  • Iago “enjoys a god-like sense of power’
• Scene 3 - Iago to Othello on Desdemona and Cassio

  “I am bound to thee forever.” - Othello

  • Verb - Othello is shackled to the antagonist‘s manipulation

  Critic:

  • Bradley
  • Othello is “unusually open to deception“
• Scene 3 - Desdemona and Othello

  “Haply for I am black.” - Othello

  • He conforms to the stereotype
  • As soon as doubt creeps in, he loses his sense of manhood and begins to be affected by the racial prejudice that he formerly shrugged off

  Critic:

  • Loomba
  • ”Othello is a victim of racial beliefs“
• Scene 3 - Desdemona and Othello

  “I have a pain in my forehead, here.” - Othello

  • Declarative sentence - He immediately believes that he has been cuckoled by Des. He puts his trust in Iago over his wife Des.

  Critic:

  • Honigmann
  • ”The most devastating tradey is that, in the end, Othello comes to believe Brabantio”
• Scene 3 - Desdemona and Othello

  “I am abused and my relief / must be to loathe her.” - Othello

  • Verb - his powerful. He fully believes he has been cheated on and in order to protect himself, he must hate her.
• Scene 3 - Desdemona and Othello

  “Oh, curse of marriage / that we can all these delicate creatures ours / and not their appetites.” - Othello

  • The change in Othello’s language, uses more exclamatory sentences, shows that change in his personality.
  • Animalistic references to women shows he follows that values of traditional Venetians.

  Critic:

  • Phillips
  • ”She is a prize, a spoil of war”
• Scene 3 - Iago and Othello on Cassio and handkerchief

  “I think my wife honest and think she is not.” - Othello

  • His manipluation results in O’s inner conflict. Highlights the impact of Iago’s deception on O’s downfall.
• Scene 3 - Iago and Othello on Cassio and handkerchief

  “I’ll tear her all to pieces.” - Othello

  • Violent imagery
  • Immediatly thinks of killing her because she’s destroyed his manhood.
  • Shift in character, from romantic and chivalrous to violent and aggressive
  • Jealousy = violence
• Scene 3 - Iago and Othello on Cassio and handkerchief

  “Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne / to tyrannous hate! Swell, bosom, with thy fraught, / for ‘tis of aspics’ tongues.” - Othello

  • Sounds like a spell
  • Using witchcraft for his advantage
  • Adopts the language of Iago
• Scene 3 - Iago and Othello on Cassio and handkerchief

  “I am your own for ever.” - Iago

  • Ironic - it is Othello who is tragically tied to Iago
• Scene 3 - Emilia and the handkerchief and Iago

  “I nothing but to please his fantasy.” - Emilia

  • Despite the belittling she previously experience, she is still obedient to him.

  Critic:

  • Simpson
  • “We have to acknowledge the fact that wives are required to be obedient to understand Emilia's handing over of the handkerchief”
• Scene 4 - Emilia on men

  “They are all stomachs, and we all but food. / To eat us hunngerly, and when they are full, / they blech us.“ - Emilia

  • Metaphor
  • Em, who is less idealistic and more worldly, than Des understands that O’s behaviour stems from jealousy.
  • Most forward looking woman.
• Scene 4 - Emilia on men

  ”But jealous for they’re jealous“ - Emilia

  • Some men have a nature inclination towards jealousy
  • Links to Leo Africanus’ view that African are predisposed to jealousy
• Scene 4 - Bianca and Cassio

  “O Cassio, whence came this? / This is some token from a newer friend! / to the felt a sense now I feel a cause. / Is’t come to this? Well, well.” - Bianca

  • Her jealous contrasts O’s.
  • Shows that women are also subject to jealousy
• Scene 4 - Bianca and Cassio

  “I would have it copied. / Take it and do ‘it.” - Cassio

  • Although Bianca is the opposite of an ideal Jacobean woman, she is still obedient to men. She obeys him when he asks her to copy the handkerchief as she has to rely on men to survive in this patriarchal society.

  Critic:

  • Cox
  • ”Women could only rise through their association with men and their rank”