Iago’s poison really begins to kick in between lines 90 and 194. Iago lets Othello know that something is troubling him. He puts a question to Othello about Cassio’s honesty. Othello quickly, maybe even too quickly, catches on to Iago and says,
“As if there were some monster in his thought too hideous to be shown”.
This comes only 18 lines after Iago’s initial casual comments about Cassio. One would assume it would take a little longer for Othello to start being suspicious of Iago’s thoughts. However, Iago uses some clever techniques to cover himself, for example his warning to Othello about jealousy. This gives Othello a signal that there is something he should have reason to be jealous about.
In line 189 we see Othello tell Iago that he is confident that his wife is not having an affair. He says,
“Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw the smallest fear or doubt of her revolt, for she had eyes and chose me”.
After hearing this, Iago then goes on to remind Othello of Desdemona’s “unnatural” choice of him as a husband.
Othello’s first acknowledgement of doubt comes in line 244 when he says in a confused and mystified voice,
“Why did I marry? This honest creature doubtless sees and knows more, much more than he unfolds”.
This also shows us that he is confident that there is something that Iago is not telling him and that he is confident of Iago’s honesty. This is crucial to the credibility of the events.
In Othello’s first soliloquy we see him portrayed in a completely different light. In the Nunn production we see him stand up and sit down as he is speaking his lines. This shows us that he has become worried and unsettled following Iago’s persistent hints about Cassio and Desdemona. Throughout this scene Iago has been assuring Othello that he is only telling him his suspicions out of love and honesty. We know that Othello has taken this at face value from a line in his soliloquy that reads,
“This fellow’s of exceeding honesty and knows all qualities”.
It is quite plausible for Othello to trust Iago to this extent because Shakespeare has provided us with enough evidence to suggest that Iago has a very good reputation for being honest and loving. Shakespeare has done this by having a number of other characters refer to Iago as “honest Iago”.
Although Othello is taking what Iago is saying at face value he still, understandably, demands some evidence. Iago decides to introduce Othello’s gift to Desdemona, the handkerchief, into the equation. He plans to inform Othello of it being used to wipe Cassio’s beard, hoping that Othello will then assume Desdemona freely let Cassio use it. At the time of the play, another man wiping his beard on the handkerchief would have been taken as a huge insult. This is especially the case due to the fact that this particular handkerchief is very special to Othello and has been in his family for generations. Iago plans to produce the handkerchief to Othello as the actual proof of the alleged affair, so he has to come up with a plan of how to entice it into his possession. He, rather simply, decides to ask his wife Emilia to pick it up for him. It is understandable, up to a point, for her to do this for him, but for her to do this without asking him any questions as to what he needs it for could be considered as an easy way of avoiding possible flaws in the plot. However we know that at the time of the play women were there to obey their husband’s and do whatever they are told. It seems Shakespeare is not letting any other characters question Iago’s actions, hence it being easier for Iago to convince Othello of Cassio and Desdemona’s affair.
After Iago has provided Othello with the handkerchief, he becomes totally convinced of his wife’s affair. In the Nunn production we see Othello become violent towards Iago as if he would have rather not known about the affair. In line 369 we see an example of Othello becoming violent, when he retorts in an aggressive almost animal like voice,
“If thou dost slander her and torture me, never pray more”.
This shows us that Iago has evoked a significant change in Othello’s character. Before this point we had only ever seen a cool, calm and collected Othello.
We see Othello say goodbye to the military aspects of his life between lines 346 and 359. This is particularly apparent in line 359 when he says,
“Farewell! Othello’s occupation gone”.
It is because of his concerns that he feels incapable of fulfilling his professional obligations.
At the end of the scene we see Othello uttering fearful threats against Desdemona’s life. We know Iago’s plan has succeeded, as Othello delivers the line,
“I’ll tear her all to pieces”,
in a harsh and violent way. We would never have thought Othello was capable of such monstrous thoughts, prior to Succumbing to Iago’s deceitful lies.
From the line,
“I greet thy love”,
we know that Othello has taken in Iago’s persistent reminders of the fact that the only reason he is telling him his suspicions is out of love and honesty.
In line 475 we see Iago say to Othello,
“But let her live”,
this comes as Iago suspects Othello is about to order the death of Desdemona as well as Cassio. One could interpret this as some sort of remorse from Iago, however I think that he is using reverse psychology. He is feeding Othello the thought of Desdemona still being alive; hence Othello becomes more determined to kill Desdemona. This however is surprising because Iago’s original plan was to just get revenge solely on Cassio, and maybe Othello as well, but now he seems intent on seeing Desdemona killed alongside Cassio.
As for the last line of the scene, Iago feeds a final reminder to Othello of his reasons for revealing his suspicions: that he is telling him out of love and honesty. The final line reads,
“I am your own forever”.
By this, Iago is trying to hint to Othello that he could in some way take the place of Desdemona.
At the end of the scene, the audience is in some way left feeling shocked and frustrated at how quickly the character of Othello has changed. The events in the scene moved at an amazing pace. This works to Iago’s advantage because there is less time for people to become suspicious or for things to go wrong. It is almost as if we have been tricked our selves and can’t believe what has happerned.
Another advantage to the scene is that there is no sub plot to distract us from the evil work of Iago. All the characters behave and react in credible ways to what Iago is doing.
One could say that the handkerchief was an easy way of convincing Othello of his wife’s alleged affair and that it was too coincidental. However in almost every horror film there is always something that a poor helpless victim does that endangers their life that the audience are willing him not to do. The dropping of the handkerchief is just a simple but effective plot device.
On balance, I personally feel that Shakespeare has made the change in the character of Othello credible. He has made good use of Iago’s soliloquies to inform the audience of the plot and also built up extremely good character complexities, which add to the credibility of the change in the character of Othello.
