Scene 1

• Cassio sends some musicians to play music under Othello‘s window in order to restore his position
• Othello sends a clown to tell the musicians to go away
• Cassio asks the clown to find Emilia because he wants access to Desdemona
• the clown leaves and Iago enters and tells Cassio that he will send for Emilia as well
• she reports that Desdemona and Othello are discussing the events of last night and also Cassio‘s case
• they learn that Desdemona has pleaded for Cassio and that Othello (who likes Cassio) has put things in action to bring him back into favor when the right moment comes

Scene 2

• Othello sends a letter back to Venice by ship and makes an inspection of the town‘s fortifications

Scene 3

• Desdemona tells Cassio that she will do everything she can on his behalf
• Iago and Othello enter and Cassio quickly leaves, claiming that he feels uneasy
• Othello wonders if it was Cassio who just left the room and Iago answers that Cassio would not leave the room like a guilty man upon Othello‘s approach
• Desdemona begs Othello to forgive Cassio and to reinstate him
• Othello tells her that he will speak to Cassio but he avoids confirming a meeting time
• Desdemona does not understand why Othello responds so reluctantly and criticizes him for that; he responds that he won‘t deny her anything but that he wants to be left alone for a while
• when alone with Othello, Iago hints at an affair between Cassio and Desdemona by reminding him that Cassio used to be the mediator between Desdemona and Othello when they courted
• Othello asks Iago if he thinks that Cassio is being honest and Iago avoids answering
• Iago talks about adultery and hypocrisy and Othello screams at him that he should finally speak his mind
• Iago just advises Othello to observe his wife when she is with Cassio
• Othello then asks Iago to have Emilia watch Desdemona when she is with Cassio
• Iago plays with Othello and tells him to leave the matter alone, but he has already achieved his goal: casting doubts in Othello
• Othello muses that Desdemona does not love him anymore and finds several causes for that (his age, his race, his state as a general and not a courtier)
• when Desdemona and Emilia enter and inform Othello that he is expected at dinner, he claims that he suffers from a headache
• Desdemona offers to bind his head with her handkerchief
• Othello pushes the handkerchief away and it drops to the floor
• after Othello and Desdemona exit, Emilia picks the handkerchief up, knowing that her husband has asked her to steal the item various times
• when Iago enters, Emilia surprises him with the handkerchief upon which he shows excitement and sends her away
• while Iago plots to put the handkerchief within Cassio‘s quarters, Othello storms in and rages about how his soul is tormented
• his speech is fevered, sweeping and frantic; he believes that his wife has been unfaithful to him
• at the same time, he demands that Iago should bring him proof of the fact that Desdemona is a whore
• yet, Iago claims that it would be hard to prove their affair
• instead, he tells Othello that while he and Cassio were sharing a bed, Cassio called Desdemona‘s name in his sleep and kissed him, throwing his leg over Iago‘s thigh
• Othello is enraged by that story and Iago assures him that it was only Cassio‘s dream
• however, Iago then claims that he saw Cassio wiping his beard with Desdemona‘s handkerchief
• Othello dismisses love and calls for vengeance, Iago vows to help Othello in his plot and Othello promotes Iago to lieutenant

Scene 4

• Desdemona sends the clown for Cassio to deliver the message that she has spoken with Othello
• she worries about having lost her handkerchief
• Othello enters and claims that he suffers from a headache; he asks Desdemona for the handkerchief that he has given her to bind his head
• he also explains the meaning of the handkerchief
• Desdemona attempts to dodge his questions about the handkerchief and talks about Cassio
• upon that, Othello leaves in fury
• Cassio and Iago enter; Cassio asks Desdemona for help with reinstating his position, but Desdemona declines, explaining that his timing is unfortunate
• Iago claims that he wants to go and soothe his master
• Desdemona also leaves in order to talk to Othello again about Cassio
• the prostitute Bianca enters and Cassio hands the handkerchief over to her after he found it in his quarters
• he asks her to make a copy of it for him because he will have to return the original when finding its owner
• Bianca accuses him of having another mistress, but Cassio tells her she is being silly

Function

• Iago‘s skill in manipulating other characters emerges
  
  • Iago triggers Othello‘s jealousy so that he believes that his wife is cheating on him and so that he plots revenge
  • Iago uses Cassio‘s discomfort at seeing Othello and interprets it as a sign of guilt
  • also, he uses Desdemona‘s pledge to help Cassio being reinstated to create suspicion in Othello
  • this has an effect on Othello: he wants to be left alone and refuses her offer to help
  • Othello does not understand the fact that relationships are based on faith or trust, which is why it is easy for Iago to provoke Othello (he tells him that he does not know for sure what his wife is doing or feeling)
• Othello‘s love and affection for Desdemona become clear, yet ambivalent
  
  • when Desdemona is absent, Othello claims that if he stops loving her, the whole universe would erupt in chaos
  • it is ironic that Othello becomes consumed by his jealousy although he knows how much is at stake
  • it does not take a lot of evidence for him to be convinced of her infidelity
  • Othello is consumed by jealousy until he rejects Desdemona completely
• the handkerchief is a symbol for Desdemona herself
  
  • when Othello rejects the handkerchief, he rejects Desdemona herself
  • the pain in his head is too big for the handkerchief to soothe
  • thus, he implies that he is growing invisible horns (a symbol for a man whose wife has betrayed him)
• the plot finds its climax in the end of Act III, Scene 3
  
  • Othello vows to never change his mind or soften his feelings towards his wife until he has taken vengeance
  • Othello and Iago enact something like a marriage ceremony in which both kneel and pledge to take vengeance on Desdemona and Cassio
• Act III, Scene IV focuses on the topic of jealousy
  
  • Desdemona worries that having lost the handkerchief will infuriate her husband Othello and make him even more jealous
  • Emilia instead believes that all men are jealous
  • the lost handkerchief triggers Othello‘s rage and jealousy
  • Emilia talking about jealousy as a monster suggests that Iago has talked to her about the topic in their own married life
  • Bianca is jealous as she believes that the handkerchief Cassio asks her to copy the embroidery of belongs to a new love
  • the bitter irony manifests in the fact that the characters are jealous based on offenses that did not happen (Cassio having a new love, Desdemona having an affair with Cassio)
• the meaning of the handkerchief becomes clear
  
  • the handkerchief is an heirloom that Othello‘s mother had given to him
  • an Egyptian sorceress has given it to Othello‘s mother in order to keep her husband‘s love
  • losing the handkerchief equals losing the love
  • the handkerchief now means betrayal