Othello #6

In this section of Shakespeare's Othello, the relationship between Emilia and Iago is questioned by the audience. Emilia is completely unaware of her husband's devious plan. When talking with Desdemona, she describes a person who is very much like Iago, but does not realize it because the description is negative. She also talks with Othello. She says, "If any wretch have put this in your head,/ Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse,/ For if she be not honest, chaste, and true,/ There’s no man happy. The purest of their wives/ Is foul as slander" (IV.ii.16-20). Emilia tries to convince Othello that Desdemona is not cheating on him, saying that God should curse anyone who makes him think otherwise. This shows that Emilia does not know her husband as well as she thinks she does. This is also ironic because in the quote above, Emilia wants God to curse her husband.