‘What was he that you followed with your sword?’
He cunningly makes sure that Cassio is not suspicious of him by enquiring about Roderigo.
Turn taking is very important in this scene because Cassio has a lot of respect for Iago and Iago is pretending to have a lot of respect for Cassio. Therefore, they have no desire to talk over one another. The pace of the conversation is quite fast because Cassio is panicking about the loss of his reputation. The opening line of Cassio’s, however, slows the pace:
‘Ay, past all surgery.’
This is because the audience and Cassio are led to believe that Cassio has being physically hurt. However, the pace picks up when Cassio exclaims:
‘Reputation, reputation, reputation! O I have lost my reputation!’
The repetition of ‘reputation’ shows how upset Cassio is; it makes the audience fell empathy towards Cassio because of his misfortune. Iago’s answer to what Cassio has said says a lot about Iago’s beliefs:
‘Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit and lost without deserving.’
This shows that Iago doesn’t think a lot about reputation because it is given out without a person earning it and taken away in the same way. He believes it is too easily earned; therefore, it is meaningless in the first place.
The way in which Cassio says goodbye to Iago will make the audience cringe:
‘Good night honest Iago.’
This shows that Iago is both cunning and convincing and that Cassio is very trusting because he believes that Iago has helped even though the situation is his fault in the first place.
Act 4, Scene 2
This scene opens with Othello asking Emilia if she knows anything about the alleged affair between Desdemona and Cassio. Emilia tries to convince Othello that they aren’t having an affair but Othello refuses to believe her. Othello asks if she has ever seen anything between them but Emilia says that she has never seen, heard or even suspected anything between them. However, the reason Othello won’t believe her is because of all Iago’s lies that he has fed to Othello and Othello trusts Iago.
The pace of this conversation is very fast because Othello is angry and Emilia is panicking because of Othello’s allegations and the fact that he won’t believe a word she tells him. The first nine lines are short sentences because it is Othello asking a question and then Emilia giving him an answer. The short sentences give the impression that the words are being spoke n quickly, this is also, made obvious because of the simple language being used. There are no complex words or sentences. The repetition of ‘never’ by Emilia shows that she is trying her hardest to make Othello believe her.
Turn taking is used in this scene which is strange because of the pace. It would be expected that Othello would keep interrupting her until she gave him the answer that he was expecting to hear. However, the impression is given that when Emilia has finished talking then Othello jumps straight in after her and asks another question or gives another answer.
The status is made clear between n the two because of the way Othello speaks to Emilia, he seems to have no respect for her:
‘Your mystery, your mystery! Nay dispatch.’
This shows that Othello is of a higher status than Emilia because he wouldn’t talk to the Duke like he speaks to Emilia or Desdemona.
