The archaism that we can see, such as ‘Zounds’ and ‘Pish!’ are both words that have a tone of exasperation, and of irritation. If we look at this prose, we can decipher that Othello is near to complete madness. Is’t possible? – Confess? Handkerchief? O devil!’ (4:1:35-41). Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion without some instruction. Lie with her! Zounds, that’s fulsome! Handkerchief – confessions – handkerchief! To confess and be hanged for his labour. ‘Lie with her? Lie on her? We say lie on her when they belie her. And this is when Othello ‘ falls in a trance‘, and there is a section of prose where Othello speaks as though it is just his thoughts unravelling: The sexual implications of ‘With her, on her’ makes it seem as though Desdemona is not just in a platonic relationship with Cassio, because if she were just ‘with’ him, according to Iago it would not be a crime, but because Cassio may have been ‘on’ her, this is what she can be charged with. The alliteration of the letter ‘w’ sounds like the repetition of the ‘what’ questions that Othello has for Iago.
‘With her, on her, what you will.’ (4:1:34). Iago says that Cassio ‘Lie -‘, but Othello cuts him off with the assumption ‘With her?’ and the idea that this assumption is used in an interrogative sentence portrays that Othello just really is not sure about who he is, and what he is doing.
Iago implies that Cassio has said something to him about he and Desdemona, and Othello questions this until Iago tells him. Othello becomes almost out of kilter with himself, and he is seen to be questioning everything that Iago says. Iago says that if he were to give Emilia a handkerchief, then she could do with it as she pleases, and this idea just adds to Othello’s confused mental state. The ‘hypocrisy’ that Othello mentions seems to be directed at Desdemona being a ‘hypocrite’, yet has she ever accused him of being naked with another woman? However, the idea that Shakespeare uses of a battle between ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘the devil’ implies that being Othello thinks being naked with someone of a different sex, no matter how platonic the relationship is, is the act of concealing something bad with something good. This declarative sentence opens the act with a level of bitterness, and Othello is still jealous about Cassio and Desdemona’s alleged affair. ‘It is hypocrisy against the devil.’ (4:1:6). Othello appears outraged by this notion, and says that Iago and Othello come into the scene mid conversation, and Iago is trying to persuade Othello that if a man and a woman were alone together, naked, but nothing sexual happens, it does not matter.
If you haven’t read through the first three acts, do that now: Act 1 Scene 1 2-3 Act 2 Scene 1 2-3 Act 3.
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