On the night
following these arrivals in Cyprus the marriage is consummated (II. iii.
9), Cassio is cashiered, and, on Iago's advice, he resolves to ask
Desdemona's intercession 'betimes in the morning' (II. iii. 335).
In Act III. Sc. iii. (the Temptation scene), he does so: Desdemona does
intercede: Iago begins to poison Othello's mind: the handkerchief is
lost, found by Emilia, and given to Iago: he determines to leave it in
Cassio's room, and, renewing his attack on Othello, asserts that he has
seen the handkerchief in Cassio's hand: Othello bids him kill Cassio
within three days, and resolves to kill Desdemona himself. All this
occurs in one unbroken scene, and evidently on the day after the arrival
in Cyprus (see III. i. 33).
In the scene (iv.) following the Temptation scene Desdemona sends to bid
Cassio come, as she has interceded for him: Othello enters, tests her
about the handkerchief, and departs in anger: Cassio, arriving, is told
of the change in Othello, and, being left _solus_, is accosted by
Bianca, whom he requests to copy the work on the handkerchief which he
has just found in his room (ll. 188 f.). All this is naturally taken to
happen in the later part of the day on which the events of III. i.-iii.
took place, _i.e._ the day after the arrival in Cyprus: but I shall
return to this point.
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