Act 3 Scene 3 Study Questions

1.     Desdemona agrees to plead Cassios case due Cassio and Othello being close friends and due to Cassios love for Othello and being a true servant.

2.     Iago says “Ha I like not that” then purposely stops his sentence to make Othello paranoid and start to overthink Cassios and Desdemona’s relationship.

3.     After Othello repeatedly urges Iago to tell him what’s on his mind, Iago says "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;/It is the green eyed monster, which doth mock / The meat it feeds on." Othello then responds “O misery” shows that he has fallen out of love with Desdemona and that he agrees with Iago that it is better to live in ignorance then to know the truth about his cheating wife. Othello wants Iago to feel his pain and join together as one. Throughout the following pages they are slowly getting closer and closer to thinking the same and agreeing more with one another.

4.     Iago says, “In Venice they do let God see the pranks They dare not to show their husbands; their best conscience Is not to leave’t undone, but keep’t unknown”. By this Iago is saying that the women in Venice do not have affairs but they just hide it and only God truly knows what these women have done,

5.     We have contextual evidence to support this viewpoint of women in Venice from Thomas Coryat, Coryat’s Crudities (1611) as he says “The name of a Courtezan of Venice is famoused over all Christendome”. Meaning the women in Venice are profound prostitutes and sexually promiscuous.

6.     Othello may choose to believe this contextual evidence or not dismiss it immediately as Desdemona went behind her fathers back and deceived him and he is worried that the same things is happening to him but with Cassio.

7.     Iago echoes Brabantio's earlier warning to Othello when he says, “She did deceive her father, marrying you”. Iago is planting more metaphorical poison in Othello’s head to make him doubt Desdemona even more.

8.     Iagos duplicitous fashion makes a bold statement about Desdemona and Othello, saying “Long live she so, and long live you to think so!” This is significant as Iago specifically uses the word ‘think’ to make him think about everything and to put more doubt in his head. It makes Othello believe that Desdemona is hiding something from him.

9.     Desdemona's handkerchief becomes an important piece of stage business. Desdemona produced the handkerchief, as it is an iconic symbol of Othello’s and her love. Othello’s mum gave it to him then he gave it to Desdemona. As long as Desdemona has Othello’s handkerchief their love for one another will never die. Shortly following Desdemona producing the handkerchief “He pushes the handkerchief away, and it falls”. This symbolizes the end of their love between one another. From this point things will only get worst. Shortly after Emilia finds the handkerchief on the floor and plans to give it to Iago.

. .     Emilia is motivated to give the handkerchief to Iago as she is desperate for his love and willing to do anything to get it. She knows the handkerchief will please Iago as he has asked her to steal it for her before. However she has found it and has not stolen it but feels no guilt. She is naïve to what Iago plans to do with it.

1.     Iago intends to use it as a device to get Othello to believe his deceiving stories about Desdemona and Michael Cassios new found love for one another and the fact that she has been sleeping around with him. The audience knows this to not be true, but Othello is ignorant. 

1.    When Othello returns to the scene upset and angry he holds Iago by the throat and says “Ha, ha, false to me?” meaning ‘you dare lie to me?’

1.     What 'proof' of Desdemona's disloyalty does Iago give Othello? Iago gives proof of Desdemona’s disloyalty through an unconvincing lie, however it manages to convince Othello, which raises questions about how great this tragic hero truly is. Iago says “I lay with Cassio lately, And, being troubled with a ranging tooth, I could not sleep. There are a kind of men so loose of soul, That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs: One of this kind is Cassio .In sleep I heard him say ‘Sweet Desdemona, Let us be wary, let us hide our loves’; And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand, Cry out ‘Sweet creature!’, and then kiss me hard, As if he plucked up kisses by the roots, That grew upon my lips; then laid his leg Over my thigh, and sighed, and kissed, and then Cried ‘Cursed fate, that gave thee to the Moor!’”

1.    Iagos final proof is the handkerchief his wife Emilia found and gave to him. When Othello approaches Desdemona about the handkerchief and wishes her to present it she will not be able to find it meaning Othello will believe what Iago just says- “I know not that; but such handkerchief (I am sure it was your wife’s) did I today See Cassio wipe his beard with.”

1.    Othello’s language is noticeable different in this scene as it become increasing monosyllabic and more like Iagos as they start to become closer and closer together. This scene is arguable homoerotic as there is a scene where Iago and Othello exchange wedding vows and become as one, reflecting their shared language type dialect.