Othello Act 3 s iv

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

Act 3 s iii

Othello's soliloquy 

Why does Othello believe Iago so quickly? 

Some key quotes and insight into Othello's jealousy 

Do we pity Desdemona? 

• Is she a foolish, naïve girl who hasn’t the first understanding of military life and doesn’t really know how her husband thinks?
  
• Or is she a strong, independent minded woman, isolated in a military camp, who fails because she cannot resist the misogynist and aggressive attitudes of the time?
  

Read Act 3 s iv 

Read Act 3 s iv 

Then watch the scene 

Desdemona 

Clown 

Emilia 

Othello 

Iago 

Casio 

Bianca 

Desdemona is now at the mercy of everybody else

• She is her husband’s victim, and Iago’s
  
• She cannot even compete against the Clown, who makes a series of sexual puns, illustrating how words can be twisted and meaning misconstrued
  
• Her powerlessness is clear – she is even at the mercy of Emilia, who could have said what she did with the handkerchief, but fails to help her mistress
  
• Desdemona’s vulnerability is alluded to in Emilia’s disturbing metaphor about food: men are “all but stomachs and we all but food”, and that men “eat us hungerly, and when they are full they belch us”
  

The handkerchief

Thomas Rymer, an early negative critic of Othello (1693), hated the device of the handkerchief:

“So much ado, so much stress, so much passion and repetition about an Handkerchief! Why was not this call'd the Tragedy of the Handkerchief? What can be more absurd… it is so remote a trifle, no Booby (idiot), cou'd make any consequence from it.”

Is this fair? Or is Rymer missing the point?

Discuss 

quizlet.com

The handkerchief

Read lines 52 - "That's a fault" to line 71 - "Conserv'd of maidens' hearts." 

In your own words write down the story of the handkerchief. 

Is this true? 

If not, why does Othello claim this? 

What is the significance of the handkerchief?

How does Shakespeare show this? 

• The handkerchief symbolises Desdemona’s honour and trustworthiness – her marriage now depends on having it
  
• Othello uses hyperbolic language to magnify its significance:
  
• “an Egyptian” gave it to his mother, who “dying, gave it me”
  
• A 200 year old woman sewed it out of “hallowed” silk and “there’s magic in the web”
  

Lesson objectives 

Act 3 s iv

Bianca, Cassio's mistress - foil and three ways to be a woman

How the women are treated 

Watch up to Act 4 si 

Bianca – a courtesan and Cassio’s mistress

• So far, we have seen an upper-class woman (Desdemona), and a middle-class woman (Emilia). Now we meet Bianca, a prostitute from the lower class.
  
• Bianca is far more spirited than Desdemona or Emilia – she is not afraid to challenge Cassio now that she has found the handkerchief
  
• Her anxiety and jealousy that Cassio might have taken another lover is a mirror of Othello’s
  
• Ironically, it is the lowest status character of all, Bianca, who behaves exactly how Othello should have behaved in confronting her lover when she has suspicions
  

Othello vs Cassio 

Cassio does not wish Bianca to follow him, stating that

"I do attend here on the general

And think it no addition, nor my wish

To have him see me womaned." 3.4.187-189

This is in stark contrast with Othello, whose very public reunion in front of all his troops showed a man who did not care if he was seen “womaned”.

Which approach is better? How should a soldier behave? Discuss

Is Bianca a foil character? 

What are the three ways to be a woman shown through Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca? 

Desdemona is an affectionate and passionate wife whose desire to please her lord and help her friends is used against her by Iago and Othello

Emilia is Iago’s abused wife, married to an openly misogynistic, unaffectionate man. She steals Desdemona’s strawberry spotted handkerchief at Iago’s request

Bianca finds the handkerchief in Cassio’s lodging (placed there by Iago) and is accused by Iago of planning to murder Cassio. (Act 4 S i) Cassio treats her very casually and finds the idea of marrying her absurd

Iago’s plotting relies on the manipulation of Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca, and all three women are obedient to their men, even though they all dislike it

All three women are spoken about in disparaging and insulting terms:

Desdemona becomes “a cunning whore of Venice”, an “impudent strumpet”

Emilia must listen to misogynist taunts from Iago: “You rise to play and go to bed to work”

Bianca is “a creature…a strumpet…a bauble”

As the drama unfolds, the women in this play are victims rather than fools whose obedience and silence allows Iago’s plan to work.