Summary:
1. Desdemona asks the clown to inform Cassio that she has pleaded for him.
2. She is uneasy about losing the handkerchief and she tries again to promote Cassio’s cause.
3. Othello is angry as he believes that Desdemona has lost the handkerchief.
4. Cassio’s mistress, Bianca, is annoyed with Cassio as he has not visited her recently; he gives
Bianca Desdemona’s handkerchief, saying he found it in his bedchamber.
The purpose of the episode with the clown:
Ironic that Desdemona is asking for Cassio here also.
Desdemona at mercy of clown, whose riddling shows how words can be misconstrued.
Desdemona’s powerlessness mirrors her position in the previous scene.
The Clown provides some contrasting comic relief, taking words only at face value, and this
little diversion covers the plot move where Desdemona sends for Cassio.
The contrast between Emilia and Desdemona:
Emilia not as honest as Desdemona, ironic as it is Desdemona’s honesty that is being
questioned. Emilia is also shown to be abusing Desdemona as she knows what has happened
to the handkerchief but fails to defend or help her mistress. When Desdemona asks where it
may be, Emilia replies ‘I know not, madam.’
One being blindly loyal to their husband, in contrast with Desdemona who goes against her
husband talking to Cassio.
In Emilia’s metaphor about food, Desdemona’s vulnerability is indirectly alluded to. Emilia
tells Desdemona that men soon tire of women: ‘They are all but stomachs [appetites] and
we all but food.’ She adds that men ‘eat us hungerly and when they are full they belch us.’
This image of vomiting suggests the danger that Desdemona is in- she will be eaten up and
destroyed. It seems inevitable at the end of the scene that Desdemona is doomed.
The use of address terms and pronouns:
Desdemona still calls Cassio ‘Lieutenant’ (a title she has been stripped of). Shows that she
still respects him.
Emilia calls Desdemona ‘madam’. Her pretence towards a woman she is expected to serve
upon. Instead her loyalty lies with her husband.
Addressed terms used to give sense of dynamic between characters.
When Othello greets Desdemona he says ‘Well, my good lady’, but aside says ‘O hardness
to dissemble!’ He maintains a façade to her face, when in reality the audience know he is
plotting her murder. This pretence soon fades however once Othello gets angry.
Othello switches between terms of endearment, and terms of hatred towards Desdemona in
their interaction *see below.
Use of dialogue to convey the change in the dynamic between Desdemona and Othello (including the
reference to hearts and hands):
‘Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.’ This command shows Othello physically
marking the beginning of his interrogation of Desdemona. He sees her warm hand as an
indication of fertility -‘fruitfulness and liberal heart’, but warns her that ‘this hand of yours
requires a sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer, Much castigation, exercise devout,
1. Desdemona asks the clown to inform Cassio that she has pleaded for him.
2. She is uneasy about losing the handkerchief and she tries again to promote Cassio’s cause.
3. Othello is angry as he believes that Desdemona has lost the handkerchief.
4. Cassio’s mistress, Bianca, is annoyed with Cassio as he has not visited her recently; he gives
Bianca Desdemona’s handkerchief, saying he found it in his bedchamber.
The purpose of the episode with the clown:
Ironic that Desdemona is asking for Cassio here also.
Desdemona at mercy of clown, whose riddling shows how words can be misconstrued.
Desdemona’s powerlessness mirrors her position in the previous scene.
The Clown provides some contrasting comic relief, taking words only at face value, and this
little diversion covers the plot move where Desdemona sends for Cassio.
The contrast between Emilia and Desdemona:
Emilia not as honest as Desdemona, ironic as it is Desdemona’s honesty that is being
questioned. Emilia is also shown to be abusing Desdemona as she knows what has happened
to the handkerchief but fails to defend or help her mistress. When Desdemona asks where it
may be, Emilia replies ‘I know not, madam.’
One being blindly loyal to their husband, in contrast with Desdemona who goes against her
husband talking to Cassio.
In Emilia’s metaphor about food, Desdemona’s vulnerability is indirectly alluded to. Emilia
tells Desdemona that men soon tire of women: ‘They are all but stomachs [appetites] and
we all but food.’ She adds that men ‘eat us hungerly and when they are full they belch us.’
This image of vomiting suggests the danger that Desdemona is in- she will be eaten up and
destroyed. It seems inevitable at the end of the scene that Desdemona is doomed.
The use of address terms and pronouns:
Desdemona still calls Cassio ‘Lieutenant’ (a title she has been stripped of). Shows that she
still respects him.
Emilia calls Desdemona ‘madam’. Her pretence towards a woman she is expected to serve
upon. Instead her loyalty lies with her husband.
Addressed terms used to give sense of dynamic between characters.
When Othello greets Desdemona he says ‘Well, my good lady’, but aside says ‘O hardness
to dissemble!’ He maintains a façade to her face, when in reality the audience know he is
plotting her murder. This pretence soon fades however once Othello gets angry.
Othello switches between terms of endearment, and terms of hatred towards Desdemona in
their interaction *see below.
Use of dialogue to convey the change in the dynamic between Desdemona and Othello (including the
reference to hearts and hands):
‘Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.’ This command shows Othello physically
marking the beginning of his interrogation of Desdemona. He sees her warm hand as an
indication of fertility -‘fruitfulness and liberal heart’, but warns her that ‘this hand of yours
requires a sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer, Much castigation, exercise devout,
