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Act 3 scene 4 - Coggle Diagram
Act 3 scene 4
Desdemona's victimhood
The clown is unkind to her, his riddling showing how words can be misconstrued.
The audience sympathises with Desdemona, she's bullied and abused by Othello yet continues to make good her promise to Cassio.
- "This hand is moist my lady"
- Physical manifestation of the start of Othello's cruel interrogation
- Othello sees the 'moist' hand as proof of Desdemona's lechery.
- Palm reading can be linked to his pagan ancestry, revealing a distancing from the christian values he inherited from Venice
- Mirrors Desdemona's fate, she will be smothered by Othello's hands in act 5, convinced of her lechery
Othello's description of the handkerchief's magical powers is alarming to her, "would to God I had never seen it", her lies about not having lost it are only to not anger Othello further and invoke more abuse
Emilia knows what has happened with the handkerchief, yet won't say to protect her mistress from the abuse.
Cassio knows of Othello's anger, yet still implores Desdemona to help him.
Jealousy
Emilia introduces the subject of O's jealousy - proving her trustworthy judgement despite her willingness to decieve
"A monster Begot upon itself, born on itself" - use of 'monster' to signify jealousy - parallel to her husband's "beware, my lord of jealousy. It is the green eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on" from act 3 scene 3
Othello's jealousy having been manipulated and exacerbated in the previous scene by Iago now manifests itself in anger, showing how Iago can manipulate Othello's moods. use of the word 'Jealous' was prevalent in the previous scene, now it has been replaced with 'angry'
the jealousy that Iago is working so hard to evoke in Othello can be traced back to his jealousy of Cassio's position as Othello's lieutenant, now he's successfully victimised Cassio as a tool of his 'revenge' he can victimise Othello
Lies and deception
Iago's lies in act 3 scene 3 directly cause the events of this scene, all linked to the handkerchief and Desdemona's alleged affair.
Othello tells Desdemona what could be lies about the handkerchief and its importance to psychologically abuse her and make her feel guilty - if what Othello says about the handkerchief is true then it's proof he lied to the Senate about not using witchcraft in courting Des
Desdemona panics and lies to Othello, saying she still has it. Emilia lies and says she doesn't know where it is
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Summary
- Des implores the clown to tell Cassio she's pleaded for him
- She's uneasy about her losing the handkerchief
- She implores Othello to re-instate Cassio as lieutenant (again)
- Othello is angry at Desdemona for 'losing' the handkerchief
- Cassio's mistress Bianca is annoyed with Cassio because he hasn't visited recently; he gives Bianca Desdemona's handkerchief, saying he found it in her chamber
The handkerchief
Previous symbolism of honour, love, and fidelity is distorted and it is now loaded with ominous significance
now to Desdemona, it's a fearsome object linked to chaos and witchcraft "then would to God I had never seen it"