Emilia, Wife of Iago Do Not Learn

¶ … Emilia, Wife of Iago

Do not learn of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Othello, Act II, Scene i.]

More than once, I think to myself how life could have been differed between that of my previous past to that which I have now. A woman whose prospects boiled down to nothing as important as marriage could not have many to begin with. But a husband whose soul blackens the very environment, whose tongue twists morality, whose plots send shivers down my little spine? No, even this I had not asked for, not one bit.

If my good mother was still alive, I would wager that her argument would play out as follows:[footnoteRef:2] [2: Theme: The hardships of mother-daughter relationships (Lucy by Jamaica Kinkaid)]

How now, Emilia, where is your sense? Was it really so bad to leave Mantua[footnoteRef:3], to head face-front to the catastrophe that is your husband, Iago? [3: Location: Mantua is still a small town in Tuscany at Emilia's time period]

But I assure you, not everything about my situation was as bad as that. Not until that gods-cursed day.

I adore Desdemona. I would not -- nor could not -- ask for a better mistress in all the world. She is honest, kind, full of love and promise, and I her unworthy handmaiden, her protege, her confidante, even. Who could harm Desdemona the kind, Desdemona the pure and loved?

Iago could. Iago would harm innocence itself if he thought he could escape Justice's heavy sword. And oftentimes, I thought he found himself truly invincible, untouchable by the very good of society. My husband Iago, the untrustworthy plotter, always thinking ahead and turning predicaments to good use. Perhaps that was what had at first attracted me to him, for he was a clever man, and clever men were far and few. His eloquence had bewitched me at first, and Mantua, my beautiful Mantua, was forgotten on those courting days. But it has been years since Mantua had since become the brightest days of my existence. So I think again, what different am I to other emigrants who've traveled elsewhere to seek a better future? What prospect could I have hoped to elevate myself to when my very husband found ways to put me down again?[footnoteRef:4] [4: Theme: Circuition of predicament akin to that of Lucy Josephine Potter (Lucy by Jamaica Kinkaid)]

It is a common thing to have a foolish wife.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Othello, Act III, Scene iii.]

Feckless man! Perhaps I would forever overestimate his attitude. It makes me wonder why Othello ministered a patient hand to this man. I would not trust Iago with a deep secret, not for as far as I could throw Desdemona's handkerchief.

And oh, how Iago's eyes gazed hungrily upon that handkerchief! Had I but known the plot he concocted with such a frilly thing! Why had Desdemona lost so much for mine husband's ambitions? I should have disobeyed his commands, should have lied and cheated. But I am neither as deceitful nor as clever as mine husband. Oh, no, I could not think of the plots concocted on a mere white handkerchief.

Be not acknown on 't; I have use for it. Go, leave me.[footnoteRef:6] [6: Othello, Act III, Scene iii.]

My mother would have advised me that harboring such ignorance of mine husband's plots further placed me as the wretched, innocent creature caught up in a whirlwind of evil. But was such knowledge so bad? Should not one be more curious over the secrets harbored within one's own home? To be sure, I had not trusted Iago, and I had not put it past him if he'd planned evil upon that handkerchief. His misdeeds, however, had not caught up to him until it was all too late.

Yet I cannot but help think about his dark secrets, his nefariously monstrous plots.[footnoteRef:7] How many men and women had perished under his wickedness so that he is satiated with his triumphs? A man like Iago would continue until he himself perished. But how far would that day be? Would his deviousness be caught? Sometimes I wondered if his character feels a semblance of guilt within his plotting.[footnoteRef:8] I doubt it. [7: Theme: Dark secrets of dangerous knowledge (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)] [8: Theme: The idea of keeping secrets due to a guilty or ugly conscience (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)]

'Tis not a year or two shows us a man: They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; To eat us hungerly, and when they are full, They belch us.[footnoteRef:9] [9: Othello, Act III, Scene iv.]

No truer words could be said. If only I had told Desdemona this earlier. Had I warned her and entreated her to be wary, such plots could not have hurt her so.

But Desdemona was the type to ignore my warning words. She was too sweet, and she loved her husband to the very end. She ridiculed my distrust on my own spouse, and said that my cynicism is what brought upon such a shrewish man in the first place. Yet I harbored no ill-will in her ignorant words. Still I wished that she had listened.

For is that not what our code as women ought to be?[footnoteRef:10] We must look out for each other, for if we did not, then how did we survive in this world? How did we undergo to find safety amidst the Iagos and Othellos? Inevitability dictated that Othello would have become impressionable with mine husband's silver tongue hovering over the Moor's ear. [10: Theme: Heroic code and the value system one holds (Beowulf by Anonymous)]

How could I have known that Othello would question me before I could warn my mistress? How could I have known that his words rang the words of a jealous man, of a man whose mind had already been turned? Surely, I should have known that Iago had already plucked Othello's soul-strings like an expert bard strumming at a harp.

Yes, you have seen Cassio and she together.

But then I saw no harm, and then I heard Each syllable that breath made up between them.[footnoteRef:11] [11: Othello, Act IV, Scene ii.]

How else could I have responded? He asked if they never did whisper, and I sought to find a way to persuade Desdemona's husband of her good intentions. But what manipulations had I when Iago whispered wrongs and lies? And he, to use that bedamned handkerchief! Perhaps all those rumors about the monstrous Moors were true, for what creature could find such green jealousy within his heart?[footnoteRef:12] And the subject being fair Desdemona at that! [12: Theme: Manifestation of monstrosity in a person's appearance (Beowulf by Anonymous)]