By this, we know that even she considers Iago to be out of the norm: “erratic, unpredictable” (“wayward, adj. She refers to Iago as “wayward” (III.iii.292). Despite this, Emilia is willing to take the handkerchief and have it copied (“have the work ta’en out” ) and then give the copy to Iago.Īll of this is crucial to the narrative of the second half of the play.īut what I find interesting are the (not un-)spoken but subtle references to the past… Beyond the mere ethics of the situation, Emilia has not stolen it because of the sentimental value Desdemona holds for it: Othello has told her that she needs to keep it forever, and she has kept it “evermore about her // To kiss and talk to” (III.iii.295-6). On more than one occasion, she says, Iago has asked her to steal this handkerchief “a hundred times” (III.iii.292) is probably hyperbole, but it wasn’t just a single request. Then she feeds us the first inklings of why the discovery of the handkerchief brings her happiness. Instead, she delays that information by giving us a line of exposition: this handkerchief was the first gift or “remembrance” (III.iii.291) from Othello. ![]() She finds the handkerchief, and for this, she is joyous. Desdemona has attempted to relieve Othello’s head pain (which he sees as symbolic of a cuckold’s erupting horns) by binding it with her handkerchief, a gift to her from the Moor, but he pushes it away, and as it falls to the floor, he exits with Desdemona in pursuit. Just after the midpoint in the play, after Iago plants the seeds of doubt in Othello’s brain, we get three soliloquies within a span of less than 100 lines: Othello, Iago, and this one by Emilia sandwiched in between. I’ll have the work ta’en outĪnd give ’t Iago. (For he conjured her she should ever keep it) This was her first remembrance from the Moor.
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