Scene III explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Gender and Misogyny

  Emilia critiques the double standard that blames wives for infidelity while excusing husbands' faults, highlighting gender inequality.

• Deception and Appearance vs. Reality

  Desdemona's innocent demeanor contrasts with Othello's hidden jealousy, and the Willow Song foreshadows her tragic fate.

Characters to notice

• Othello

  Commands Desdemona to go to bed and dismiss Emilia, showing his authoritative and suspicious demeanor.

• Desdemona

  Sings the Willow Song, expresses premonitions of death, and engages in a debate with Emilia about marital fidelity.

• Emilia

  Argues that wives' infidelity often stems from husbands' faults, and discusses the double standard between men and women.

• Lodovico

  Briefly appears as Othello's guest, exchanging courtesies before departing.

Key passages

• “My mother had a maid call’d Barbara: She was in love, and he she loved proved mad And did forsake her: she had a song of “willow;” An old thing ’twas, but it express’d her fortune, And she died singing it: that song to-night Will not go from my mind”

  Desdemona recalls her mother's maid Barbara, who was abandoned by her lover and died singing the Willow Song, which now haunts Desdemona.

  Foreshadows Desdemona's own death and her sense of impending doom.

• “But I do think it is their husbands’ faults If wives do fall: say that they slack their duties, And pour our treasures into foreign laps, Or else break out in peevish jealousies, Throwing restraint upon us; or say they strike us, Or scant our former having in despite; Why, we have galls, and though we have some grace, Yet have we some revenge.”

  Emilia argues that husbands' neglect, infidelity, jealousy, and abuse are often the cause of wives' unfaithfulness, and that women are capable of revenge.

  Emilia challenges the patriarchal view of female fidelity, asserting that women have the same desires and flaws as men.