well have led to her infidelity. Before Othello can do anything to Cassio or Desdemona he wanted proof, I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; And on the proof, there is no more but this: Away at once with love or jealousy! (Act 3, Sc.3, 187-90) Iago then supplies him with the visible, tangible proof of Desdemona’s adultery with Cassio that he desires. The episode of the handkerchief and that of the conversation concerning Bianca, which Othello believes to be about Desdemona, are but two of the incidents in which tricks Othello into believing that Desdemona is cheating on him. The anger and persistence with which Othello demands her handkerchief frighten Desdemona into panicky lying and lead her to wondering comment to her husband: ‘My lord is not my lord, nor should I know him / Were ...
