Key Events

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Tragedy Unfolding

This scene begins the climax of the play. Several of the plot-lines which have been laid down earlier on in the text, start to come together and coalesce.

Collisions

We see the final conflict between Roderigo and Cassio, as well as a collision between Emilia and Bianca.
These collisions, injuries and the stabbing of Roderigo prefigure events in the final scene of the play.

Roderigo’s attack

In the darkness, Iago conducts Roderigo’s attack on Cassio, who is returning from Bianca’s house.
It is Iago’s intention that both men should die to prevent the truth from being revealed.
Roderigo fails and instead, is wounded by Cassio, who receives a leg injury from Iago before the latter exits.

Cries

Othello can hear the fight and assumes Cassio has been killed as planned.
After Lodovico and Gratiano have heard the cries of the two wounded, Iago re-enters bearing a light and offers to help Cassio, while also taking the opportunity to stab Roderigo.

The proximity of tragedy

When Bianca appears, Iago points to her fright and paleness as evidence of her conspiracy in the attack on Cassio.
Emilia turns up, insults Bianca, and is instructed by Iago to inform Othello and Desdemona of what has happened, though he presumably does not expect Desdemona to still be alive.
Roderigo’s death and Cassio’s maiming show how close tragedy is now to the central characters of the play.

Iago’s ‘Play’

It is clear that everyone in the play is now a villain, victim, witness or suspect in Iago’s ‘play’.

Iago's luck

It has been suggested that Iago starts making mistakes here, or that his run of luck has finished, though he would still be in the clear as long as Roderigo died, and once Othello has become a murderer his accusations will not carry much weight.

Misinterpretations

Again Othello misinterprets the action, mistaking the voice of Roderigo for Cassio.
His retiring couplet is that of the stereotypical stage villain, and exaggerated in that he is going to strangle her, not spill her blood.

Beauty

Roderigo’s naming of Iago as an ‘inhuman dog’ is the first time Iago has been seen for what he is.
His envy of Cassio’s ‘daily beauty’ suggest that Cassio has been an equally prime target all along, and that Iago knows what ‘beauty’ is and resents being deprived of it, though he has up to now denied the existence of such an abstract and effeminate concept, along with love, honour and reputation.

Irony

It is obviously ironic that Iago should be a light-bearer, and that once again he should offer support for Cassio and concern for his ‘dear friend’ Roderigo.
He quickly turns appearance (Bianca’s) into evidence, for a situation that is plausible but false.

Chance

Bianca pointedly claims to be as honest as Emilia, Iago’s final couplet confirms that tragedy is about to happen.
Although he has prepared things well, he also recognises the role chance has to play.