In IV. i. Iago tells Othello that Cassio has confessed, and, placing
Othello where he can watch, he proceeds on Cassio's entrance to rally
him about Bianca; and Othello, not being near enough to hear what is
said, believes that Cassio is laughing at his conquest of Desdemona.
Cassio here says that Bianca haunts him and 'was here _even now_'; and
Bianca herself, coming in, reproaches him about the handkerchief 'you
gave me _even now_.' There is therefore no appreciable time between III.
iv. and IV. i. In this same scene Bianca bids Cassio come to supper
_to-night_; and Lodovico, arriving, is asked to sup with Othello
_to-night_. In IV. ii. Iago persuades Roderigo to kill Cassio _that
night_ as he comes from Bianca's. In IV. iii. Lodovico, after supper,
takes his leave, and Othello bids Desdemona go to bed on the instant and
dismiss her attendant.
In Act V., _that night_, the attempted assassination of Cassio, and the
murder of Desdemona, take place.
From all this, then, it seems clear that the time between the arrival in
Cyprus and the catastrophe is certainly not more than a few days, and
most probably only about a day and a half: or, to put it otherwise, that
most probably Othello kills his wife about twenty-four hours after the
consummation of their marriage!
The only _possible_ place, it will be seen, where time can elapse is
between III.
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